Ivory is formed from dentine and constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth and narwhal. Dentin ( BE: dentine) is a calcified tissue of the body and along with enamel, Cementum, and pulp is one of the four A tusk is an extremely long Incisor Tooth of certain Mammals that protrudes when the Mouth is closed Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea. The hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius) from the Greek ἱπποπόταμος ( hippopotamos, ιππος hippos meaning "horse" The walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered Marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and A mammoth is any Species of the Extinct Genus Mammuthus. These Proboscideans are members of the elephant family and The Narwhal ( Monodon monoceros) is an Arctic species of Cetacean.

The word "ivory" was traditionally applied to the tusks of elephants; the word is ultimately from Ancient Egyptian âb, âbu "elephant". Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages

Ivory has availed itself to many ornamental and practical uses. Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items. Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products Billiard balls are used in Cue sports, such as Carom billiards, pool, and Snooker. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers Bagpipes are a class of Musical instrument, Aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag Synthetic substitutes for ivory have been developed. Plastics have been viewed by piano purists as an inferior ivory substitute on piano keys, although other recently developed materials more closely resemble the feel of real ivory.

Contents 1 Structure 2 Teeth and tusks 3 Ivory in art 4 Consumption before plastics 5 Availability 6 Types of ivory 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

Structure

The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is the same regardless of the species of origin. The trade in certain teeth and tusks other than elephant is well established and widespread, therefore "ivory" can correctly be used to describe any mammalian teeth or tusks of commercial interest which is large enough to be carved or scrimshawed. Scrimshaw is the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the byproducts of harvesting Marine mammals It is most commonly made out of the Bones

Teeth and tusks

Teeth and tusks have the same origins. Teeth are specialized structures adapted for food chewing. Tusks, which are extremely large teeth projecting beyond the lips, may give certain species an evolutionary advantage.

Tusks are modified teeth, both of which share the same physical structures: pulp cavity, dentine, cementum and enamel. The dental pulp is the part in the center of a Tooth made up of living soft tissue and cells called Odontoblasts Anatomy Dentin ( BE: dentine) is a calcified tissue of the body and along with enamel, Cementum, and pulp is one of the four Cementum is a specialized calcified substance covering the root of a tooth. Tooth enamel is the hardest and most highly mineralized substance of the body and with Dentin, Cementum, and dental pulp is one of the four major The innermost area is the pulp cavity. The pulp cavity is an empty space within the tooth that conforms to the shape of the pulp.

Ivory in art

Paleolithic Cro-Magnon man, during the late stages of the ice age, were the first to carve in ivory (mammoth tusks). The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolings, or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design housing a permanent collection Cro-Magnon ( French) is one of the main types of Homo sapiens of the European Upper Paleolithic, living approximately 40000 to 10000 years An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets Both the Greek and Roman civilizations used large quantities of ivory to make high value works of art, precious religious objects, and decorative boxes for costly objects. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Ivory was often used to form the white of the eyes of statues.

The Syrian and North African elephant populations were reduced to extinction, probably due to the demand for ivory in the Classical world. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean

The Chinese have long valued ivory for both art and utilitarian objects. Early reference to the Chinese export of ivory is recorded after the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian ventured to the west to form alliances to enable for the eventual free movement of Chinese goods to the west; as early as the first century BC, ivory was moved along the Northern Silk Road for consumption by western nations. Zhang Qian ( 張[[wikt 騫|騫]] Wade-Giles Chang Ch'ien was an imperial envoy to the outside world in the 2nd century BC during the time of the Han Dynasty The Northern Silk Road is a Prehistoric Trackway in northern China originating in the early capital of Xi'an and extending north of the ^[1] Southeast Asian kingdoms included tusks of the Indian elephant in their annual tribute caravans to China. Chinese craftsmen carved ivory to make everything from images of Buddhist and Taoist deities to opium pipes. An opium pipe is a pipe designed for the vaporization and inhalation of Opium. ^[2]

The Indianized Buddhist cultures of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos and Cambodia traditionally harvested ivory from their domesticated elephants. Ivory was prized for containers due to its ability to keep an airtight seal. Ivory was also commonly carved into elaborate seals utilized by officials to "sign" documents and decrees by stamping them with their unique official seal. ^[3]

In Southeast Asian countries where Muslim Malay peoples live, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, ivory was the material of choice for making the handles of magical kris daggers. The kris or keris is a distinctive asymmetrical dagger indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern Thailand and In the Philippines, ivory was also used to craft the faces and hands of Catholic icons and images of saints.

Tooth and tusk ivory can be carved into a vast variety of shapes and objects. A small example of modern carved ivory objects are small statuary, netsukes, jewelry, flatware handles, furniture inlays, and piano keys. Netsuke (Japanese根付 are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th century Japan to serve a practical function (the two Japanese characters ne+tsuke mean "root" Additionally, warthog tusks, and teeth from sperm whales, orcas and hippos can also be scrimshawed or superficially carved, thus retaining their morphologically recognizable shapes. The warthog or common warthog ( Phacochoerus africanus, "African Lens-Pig" is a wild member of the pig family that lives in Africa The Sperm Whale ( Physeter macrocephalus or Physeter catodon) is the largest of all Toothed whales and largest living toothed animal The Orca or Killer Whale ( Orcinus orca) less commonly Blackfish or Seawolf, is the largest species of the Oceanic dolphin family

Consumption before plastics

Before plastics were invented, ivory was important for cutlery handles, musical instruments, billiard balls, and many other items. It is estimated that consumption in Great Britain alone in 1831 amounted to the deaths of nearly 4,000 elephants. Ivory can be taken from dead animals — Russians dug up tusks from extinct mammoths — however most ivory came from elephants who were killed for their tusks. Other animals which are now endangered were also preyed upon, for example, hippos, which have very hard white ivory prized for making artificial teeth. ^[4]

Availability

Due to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of ivory in many countries is banned or severely restricted. Much of the decline in population is due to poachers during and before the 1980s. Poaching is the illegal Hunting, Fishing or Harvesting of wild plants or animals The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. Since the worldwide ivory trade ban in 1989 there have been ups and downs in elephant populations, and ivory trade as bans have been placed and lifted. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) Many African countries including Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana claim that ivory trade is necessary—both to stimulate their economies and reduce elephant populations which are allegedly harming the environment. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election A 1999 study done by Oxford University found that less than one percent of the five-hundred million US dollars ivory sales generated ever reach Africans; most of it goes to middlemen and vendors. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the However, in 2002 the United Nations partially lifted the ban on ivory trade, allowing a few countries to export certain amounts of ivory. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The effectiveness of the policy is in question, in light of the study preceding the ban, and an updated study would be needed to evaluate the current state of the ivory trade.

In 2007 eBay, under pressure from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, made the decision to ban all international sales of elephant ivory products. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW is currently one of the largest Animal welfare and conservation charities in the world The IFAW found that up to 90% of the elephant ivory transactions on Ebay violated their own wildlife policies and could potentially be illegal. The ban does not affect trade within the United States but only trade between sellers in different countries. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[5]

Kenya, which saw its elephant populations plummet in the decade preceding the 1989 ban, claims that legalizing ivory trade anywhere in Africa will endanger elephants everywhere in Africa as poachers would attempt to launder their illegal ivory with legal stockpiles. The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar)

The 2006 Zakouma elephant slaughter in Chad is one of a long series of massacres which have eliminated some ninety-six percent of the original 300,000 African elephant population of Chad in only four decades. The 2006 Zakouma elephant slaughter refers to a series of Poaching massacres of African elephants in the vicinity of Zakouma National Park Chad (Tchad تشاد Tshād) officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a Landlocked country in Central Africa. African elephants are the species of Elephants in the Genus Loxodonta, one of the two existing genera in Elephantidae. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology

Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal. A mammoth is any Species of the Extinct Genus Mammuthus. These Proboscideans are members of the elephant family and Mammoth ivory is used today to make handcrafted knives and similar implements.

The demand for ivory is primarily from the Japanese hanko industry. Hankos are small seals used for signing documents. Traditionally, these hankos were also made from other material. Ivory hankos were introduced only in the last century.

A species of hard nut is gaining popularity as a replacement for ivory, although its size limits its usability. It is sometimes called vegetable ivory, or tagua, and is the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm commonly found in coastal rainforests of Ecuador , Peru and Colombia. Vegetable ivory, also known as corozo is a name used for the Tagua nut in the South American Rainforest. A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored Endosperm is the tissue produced in the Seeds of most Flowering plants around the time of fertilization The palm tree Phytelephas aequatorialis, which bears the common names tagua palm and ivory-nut palm, is a main source of Vegetable Rainforests are Forests characterized by high Rainfall with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. ^[6]

Types of ivory

• Elephant and mammoth ivory from the tusks of bull elephants and mammoths
• Walrus ivory from the tusks of a bull walrus
• Warthog ivory
• Hornbill ivory, derived from a bird, is not true ivory but resembles it

References

See also

• Ivory carving

External links

• Ivory and the Elephant 700 page overview of Ivory production, and role in archeology, art and jewelry by George Frederick Kunz
• http://dragonartwork.net/ How to tell fake ivory from real
• http://www.traffic.org/ many TRAFFIC reports on the ivory trade inclduing those on ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System), prepared on behalf of CITES

Ivory carving is the ornamentation of Ivory by using sharp cutting tools either mechanically or manually George Frederick Kunz ( September 29, 1856 – June 29, 1932) was an American Mineralogist.

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