I received a query about archaeological nephrite from Zambales, Luzon, Philippines and whether there are any known sources connected with the Zambales ophiolite or another source in the Philippines. Let me know if you have any information concerning this question
Cheers,
George Harlow

dear george...was the archaeological nephrite you mention of philippine origin or are the specimens of chinese origin???...many chinese pieces are found throughout the philippines...

Sometimes in 1989 i work with my american friend charlie allen.Classification of jade abundant in this region was known as neprite jade,Mining site are found in subic and Sta cruz Zambales area.We cut and process jade stone for jewelry making until i left for another jobThat was 18 years ago. Today i still recall those peple involve in jade mining.

having recently acquired a book published by the museum of cultural history, unversity of california, los angeles, entitled "the people and art of the philippines", i have jade artifacts referenced only from tombs in the early bc era...concensus is that the jades were brought from taiwan area (cagayan valley), or vietnam by the traders that spread their wares and ideas...pottery types and ling-ling-o earings match those for locales in the previous mentioned sites...no reference to native nephrite was mentioned as of the 1981 publishing date... david

i recently finished my research paper on neolithic jade artifacts in southeast asia.during my research i came across several articles from recent publications regarding the possibility of local nephrite jade deposits in the philippines.there was a reasearch conducted on neolithic jade artifacts found in the vicinity of southern Luzon and this research suggested that the jade material used for these jade artifacts (mostly comprising of ling-ling-o's and tools as adzes and chisels) is of a unique variety. the uniqueness of the nephrite came from its distinctively high oxygen isotope count that can only be found in this kind of nephrite. because of this the team concluded that there has to be a local source of nephrite around the vicinity where these artifacts were found. although,there have not been any local jade mine or ancient manufacturing site found.

I will be very interested to find out more of the jade presence from any given area. Be that nephrite or jadeite.

I am glad some one had created this area "freinds of jade" and we hope to find more new and old discovery of jade from any where.

If I can be of any help -- where I cover for the most area of Brazil and Central America.. and will go further into the area of the Mayan jade and jadeite from Guatemala .

Mr. Yih or anyone else who is interested,

I have a parcel of black Guatemalan jadeite if you are interested shoot me an email.
tonygarza@hotmail.com

Have a nice day.