The change of raw materials used to produce stone axes during the Neolithic to Copper Age transition in northeastern Italy, central and western Slovenia and northwestern Croatia (Caput Adriae) has been recently linked to the development of early European metallurgy. Serpentinite shaft‐hole axes occur commonly in the archaeological context of this region and their rounded irregular shape suggests that the raw material was mainly sourced from secondary deposits. The aim of the present study is to characterize with multiple analytical methods, including synchrotron radiation, the axes and locate the primary outcrop(s) of raw materials and related secondary exploitation areas. All the analysed artefacts are manufactured from peridotites and probably pyroxenites completely metamorphosed in greenschist facies and characterized by antigorite, diopside and magnetite, sometimes rimmed by penninite. Mineralogical and petrographic data exclude most Eastern Alps outcrops as possible raw material sources, thus limiting the research to the Hohe Tauern. Chemical data reveal a close homogeneity for the peridotite‐derived axes and therefore demonstrate a selection of the most suitable raw material for axe production. Provenance from Hohe Tauern and related secondary deposits of the Drava River hydrographical system agrees with previous studies, as this region is rich in copper ore deposits, which have been exploited since prehistory.

Magmatic rocks from the Dolomites, Carnic and Julian Alps, Italy, have been sampled to investigate the origin and geodynamic setting of Triassic magmatism in the Southern Alps. Basaltic, gabbroic and lamprophyric samples have been characterized for their petrography, mineral chemistry, whole-rock major and trace elements, and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions. Geothermobarometric estimates suggest that the basaltic magmas crystallized mostly at depths of 14–20 km. Isotopic data show variable degrees of crustal contamination decreasing westwards, probably reflecting a progressively more restitic nature of the crust, which has been variably affected by melting during the Permian period. Geochemical and isotopic data suggest that the mantle source was metasomatized by slab-derived fluids. In agreement with previous studies and based on geological evidence, we argue that this metasomatism was not contemporaneous with the Ladinian–Carnian magmatism but was related to previous subduction episodes. The lamprophyres, which likely originated some 20 Ma later by lower degrees of melting and at higher pressures with respect to the basaltic suite, suggest that the mantle source regions of Triassic magmatism in the Dolomites was both laterally and vertically heterogeneous. We conclude that the orogenic signatures of the magmas do not imply any coeval subduction in the surrounding of Adria. We rather suggest that this magmatism is related to the Triassic rifting episodes that affected the western Mediterranean region and that were ultimately connected to the rifting events that caused the break-up of Pangea during the Late Triassic – Early Jurassic period.

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