(*) Summary:  During the Neolithic-Copper Age transition, production of polished stone axes in the Caput Adriae (northeastern Italy, central and western Slovenia and northwestern Croatia) underwent a drastic change in terms of raw materials and typology of the artefacts. Shaft-hole axes, mainly produced from meta-dolerites (A), serpentinites (B) and meta-ultramafites (C), became increasingly important in the Copper Age, spreading all over the region. However, the above mentioned rock types do not show a homogeneous distribution. Group A is concentrated in the southern part of Caput Adriae, group B in the northern one, and group C, not yet completely investigated, was unearthed mainly in the Karst and in central Slovenia.
Chemical, mineralogical and textural (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry, X Ray Diffraction, Electron Microprobe Analysis, Synchrotron Radiation Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Optical Microscopy) analyses were carried out. The results give evidence of a strong connection between provenance areas of the raw material and main copper mineralizations close to Caput Adriae. In particular, meta-dolerites come from Banija Ophiolite Complex at the northernmost edge of the Central Dinaric Ophiolitic Belt, while serpentinites probably originate in the Hohe Tauern area.
On the basis of these results, the position of Ljubljansko Barje (central Slovenia) - between eastern alpine and Balkan copper-rich deposits - could contribute to explaining the importance of this area as metallurgical district at least from IV millennium BC, and, consequently, its important bridging role between eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Finally, a possible source of raw material for the meta-ultramafites has not yet been recognized, even if preliminary indications suggest they could originate in Eastern Austria or Czech Republic.

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(**) Biodata: Dr. Federico Bernardini took the degree on Prehistoric Archaeology in 2002 and he discussed his Ph.D. thesis in Archaeometry at the University of Trieste in 2009. He is also attending the last year of Faculty of Geology at the same University.
In 2003 he collaborated with the Earth Science Faculty of Open University, Milton Keynes (UK) on an interdisciplinary project about the provenance of some monoliths of Stonehenge (the famous blue stones) using a not-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence instrumentation.
In 2004-2005 he won a grant supported by the Republic of Slovenia to work as researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts (SAZU). He was engaged in archaeometric studies of prehistoric stone artifacts and was also involved in many archaeological surveys and excavations, in the study and reordering of archaeological artifacts and in the organization of exhibitions.
In 2010 Dr. Bernardini was granted the Salvatore Improta award by Associazione Italiana di Archeometria for the best young researcher in Archaeometry.