The Neolithic period in Taiwan (formerly the island of Formosa) lasted from about 3000BC to 500BC. During that period there developed a remarkable jade industry – using a jade source at Fengtian in eastern Taiwan (a nephrite deposit). Ornaments made from Fengtian nephrite have been found at 108 sites in SE Asia. This trade increased remarkably in the subsequent Iron Age (500BC-500AD) with the export of nephrite blanks that were worked locally. In the Iron Age the sea based trade became lost as it was obscured by the subsequent Indian voyages into the region and the introduction of Hinduism and Buddhism (and other cultural effects). The pre-Indic sea trade was centred on the South China Sea. Taiwan in the north, the Philippines, and northern Borneo, and across to mainland SE Asia (including the Chams who settled in south Vietnam), all places associated with the appearance of Austronesian speech – see http://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/researchers-discover-one…
A different jade network also existed far to the north, involving NE China, Korea and Japan, and East Asia in general. All this was going on while green stone axes were being traded across Europe. What is the link – green meteoric lightning? auroral green? Axes seem to signify something such as lightning bolts, an idea which might also include meteorites racing through the sky. A combination of a meteor storm and an auroral display may be what is being celebrated – treated with awe. Curiously, the Taiwanese jade product was often droplets, pieces of pear shaped jade used as ear pendants. Comma shaped magatama pendants made of jade also appear in Jomon period Japan and in dolmen burials in Korea.