Ivory elephant

Related Materials. Table II gives the results of elemental analyses for bone, ivory, and related specimens. The mastadon, mammoth, and ancient walrus sample analyses indicated retained proteinaceous matter in composition equivalent to that for modern elephant ivory. This suggests that these materials would not provide a ready source of aged ivory for a modem carver seeking to duplicate the texture and composition of ivory buried for well over 2,000 years. 

In Table VIII, the composite values for all analyses, by group, are presented together with the analyses for modern elephant ivory and for an Assyrian ivory of unknown provenance in a private collection. The results of the elemental analyses for the Khorsabad ivories are consistent with those for the excavated specimens. Samples from the Assyrian ivory from the private collection, however, yield analyses which are not con-... 

Mammoth tusks are not covered by trade bans, as the animal is already extinct and therefore not endangered. This makes mammoth ivory a popular substitute for elephant ivory today. 

In cross-section the mammoth tusk exhibits the same engine turning pattern as the elephant tusk (Fig. 3.12), and it can be impossible to tell them apart. Mammoth ivory can be a fraction darker in colour than elephant ivory, and does not take quite such a good polish. Also, the angles of intersection of the arcs in the dentine pattern tend to be narrower, at less than 90 degrees, as opposed to over 115 degrees in elephant ivory, though this can vary. 

Walrus ivory was much used in medieval times when elephant ivory was difficult to obtain. It is therefore common to find old ivories carved from walrus tusk in churches and in museum collections. 

After about ad 1300 trade was resumed with East Afiica and elephant ivory again became the preferred material as it is slightly softer to carve, the tusks are larger, and the structure of the dentine is uniform throughout. 

Elephant ivory can be cut in a very thin layer by rotating a piece of tusk against a blade, and sUdng it ely in longitudinal section. This was used ftnr inlay or piano keys. 

Figure 3.9 Ivotine plastic handles, imitating elephant ivory.

Left to nature, the elephant population has, in the past, always been kept under control by illness, drought and other natural occurrences. It is a sobering thought that, thanks to the popularity of ivory, there is now only approximately 15 per cent left of the elephant population that once roamed in Africa. The hunting ban has been a success but with such low population numbers the elephant is by no means safe from extinction. For this reason the ban on the trade in fresh elephant ivory remains. In a few countries, ivory collected from dead animals, or that has been stockpiled during the complete ban on trade, has now been released for sale, but only under extremely strict controls. 

Hippos are still hunted for their teeth, and for their skin, which is 25 millimetres thick. Though not at present under threat of extinction they may become so due to the popularity of their ivory, following the lack of elephant ivory. Nowadays hippo ivory is imported by Japan and China for carving. Elsewhere, for example Europe and America, it is covered by the total ban on the import of any ivory, so is not available. 

As already mentioned, the billiard ball industry used vast amounts of elephant ivory. Only three, good-quality balls could be made from a single tusk. As they had to be perfectly round, the production of the balls was very specialised and involved months of drying the material before and during manufacture. More large quantities went on piano keys, and on cane or umbrella handles. This fondness for ivory lasted until the elephant hunting bans of the 1980s. 

Turekian KK, Kulp JL (1956) Strontirrm content in human bones. Science 124 405-406 Ttrross N, Behrensmeyer AK, Eanes ED (1989) Strontium increases and crystallinity changes in taphonomic and archaeological bone. J Archaeol Sci 16 661-672 Van der Merwe NJ, Lee-Thorp JA, Thackeray JF, Hall-Martin A, Kmger FJ, Coetzee H, Bell RHV, Lindeque M (1990) Somce-area determination of elephant ivory by isotopic analysis. Nature 346 744-746... 

Kruger, F.J., Coetzee, H., Bell, R.H., and Lindeque, M. (1990) Source-area determination of elephant ivory by isotopic analysis. Nature, 346, 744—746. 

Figure 13 FT-Raman spectra of true ivory 1064-nm excitation, 500 spectral scans accumulated, 4-cm spectral resolution (a) sperm whale ivory, (b) elephant ivory, and (c) walrus ivory. 

Raman spectra of (A) African elephant ivory, (B) micarta, (C) an imitation ivory and (D) calcite. 

Fischer Bohn (1955) Fischer, EG. Bohn, H. The composition of elephant ivory Hoppe-Seylev s Z. Physiol. Chem. 302 (1955) 283-285... 

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