Date: October 19, 2016
Source: University of York
Archaeologists from the
University of York have conducted pioneering analysis on historic ivory,
revealing where East African elephants roamed and where they were hunted in the
19th century.
Eastern Africa has been a major
source of elephant ivory for millennia, with a sharp increase in trade
witnessed during the 19th century fuelled by escalating demand from Europe and
North America.
Desirable objects such as
cutlery-handles, piano keys and billiard balls drove the extension of global
trade networks and the industrialisation of the ivory-working industry. However,
little was previously known about the precise origins of the hunted elephants
and the trade-routes of primary suppliers at the time.
Conducting isotope analysis on
historic East African ivory and skeletal remains, providing information about
an elephant's diet and therefore likely habitat, scientists were able to
determine the origin of previously un-localised ivory and map elephant
geography in the region.
They found that ivory samples
traded after 1890 match values of elephants living in forested interior regions
of East Africa.
This supports previous evidence
suggesting that an increase in hunting resulted in the eradication of elephants
from along the coast of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania by the mid-19th
century, driving trade inland.
Dr Ashley Coutu, lead researcher
on the study and a Marie Curie Outgoing Global Fellow between York's Department
of Archaeology and the University of Cape Town, South Africa, said: "Our
results shed light on the significant historic ecological and socio-economic impact
of the ivory trade, in addition to informing contemporary elephant conservation
strategies.
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