> Ilav:
>
> <<>I understand most ivory in medieval Europe was in fact >mammoth tusks
from
> what is now Belarus, Ukraine and >western Russia.
> I didn't know this fact. It shocks me. Mammoth? Really? And the African
> elephants? What were they hunted down for, then?>>
>
> Ivory for use by the Africans? Mind you, widespread use of mammoth
ivory
> is news to me, too - I'd have thought they'd have used walrus or
something.
>
> Forward the glorious Red Army!
> Trotsky
>
I can't remember exactly where I saw the pictures: either a TV program or at
a university lecture, but mammoth ivory is ridiculously abundant in certain
areas of Siberia, etc. You can pull it out of the ground by the shedload.
Whilst I hadn't heard of a medieval trade, the ivory would have had the
distinct advantage of not being attached to a big fierce beastie.
This ivory is still excavated and exported legally - smugglers sometimes try
to palm poached elephant ivory off as mammoth ivory.
Meirion