“Jade is normally associated with imperial China, notably the Han Dynasty burial suits made up of hundreds of jade plaques linked with gold wire; or with the Ancient Maya in Central America, where royal burials were often smothered in jade necklaces and carved objects. Prehistoric Europe is not usually thought of as society that used jade, but recent studies have shown that superb polished axes of green jadeites were traded from the Alps to the Channel 6,500 years ago, reaching Britain shortly thereafter.”
The Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes holds a superb example of a jadeite axe from Breamore (mentioned in The Times article above and here – timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article6497835.ece )