137 FIG. 10 (below left): Female fi gural pendant, askaris. Luba, DR Congo. Before 1904. Warthog ivory. H: 9.4 cm. Donated by Emil Torday, 1904. British Museum, London, inv. Af1904,0611.21. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 11 (right): Covered saltcellar. Edo, Benin City, Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria. 1525–1600. African elephant ivory. H: 22 cm. Museum purchase from William Maskell, 1856. British Museum, London, inv. Af1856,0623.162.a-c. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 7 (center left): Miniature seated fi gure from a hunting visor or hat. Aleut, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. C. 1779. Walrus ivory. H: 2.5 cm. Ex Henry Christy, donated between 1860 and 1869. Believed to have been collected during Cook’s third voyage. British Museum, London, inv. Am2327. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 8 (bottom left): Arrow straightener with pictographs. Inuit, Alaska. Before 1949. Walrus ivory, soot. L: 14 cm. Ex William Ockelford Oldman. Museum purchase from Mrs. D. K. Oldman, 1949. British Museum, London, inv. Am.1949,22.30. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 9 (above left): Female fi gural pendant, askaris. Luba, DR Congo. Early 20th century. Hippopotamus ivory. H: 10 cm. Donated by the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1954. British Museum, London, inv. Af1954,+23.249. © The Trustees of the British Museum. population size, ensure that it has a fairly diminutive presence in the global ivory trade. Nonetheless, narwhal ivory plays a role in the traditional art and international trade of Inuit peoples, but has an even larger stature in the folklore of Northern Europe, where in the past the spiral tusk was believed to be the horn of the unicorn and to possess strong curative powers. This tusk has only recently been identifi ed by scientists as a powerful sensory organ for this unusual sea mammal (fi g. 5). Identifying narwhal ivory from other mammalian sources of ivory is relatively easy due to the tusk’s unique and distinguishing features. Female narwhals seldom grow a tusk, so the predominant origins of tusks derive from male narwhals. Narwhal specimens have a single upper tusk (although in rare cases there may be two) that is usually spiral twisted in a counterclockwise direction. The length of this tusk can reach 7 meters long, but usually falls within a range of 1.5 to 3 meters. Due to the spirally twisted pattern of the tusk, cross sections SPERM WHALE Physeter catodon Sperm whales comprise one of the most widely distributed species in the world, occupying oceans throughout its temperate and tropical regions. At approximately 20 meters in length, these whales are the largest toothed predator on the planet and, with some thirty harvestable teeth, are a signifi cant source of ivory. Cultures with strong ties to the ocean often relied upon whales, especially sperm whales, as a source of art-making materials (fi gs. 12b, 15, 17, 18, 2223). In Fiji, for example, whale teeth were often offered as gifts representing atonement and respect (fi g. 15).22 They were also widely used as commercial ivory throughout the nineteenth century and were also frequently employed in scrimshaw engravings.23 Sperm whale teeth are identifi able by key biological characteristics. First and foremost, their relatively wide stature relative to length is one metric by which they can be identifi ed. Whale teeth have a length of about 20 cm, are 7.5 cm across, and are ordinarily hollow for a signifi - cant portion of the base. Unlike many other mammalian species, they have a rounded cross section,24 and there is a clearly defi ned transition ring between the cementum and the dentin. The latter shows prominent circular dentinal rings, a key feature in determining the age of the source whale. The pulp cavity appears as a circular dot in the center of the circular dentinal rings (fi g. 4e). NARWHAL Monodon monoceros Although not commonly mistaken for elephant ivory, the tusk of the narwhal is nonetheless an important component of the ivory trade. The narwhal’s relatively narrow and isolated geographic range, combined with its small
T80E
To see the actual publication please follow the link above