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Tracing the Source of the Elephant And Hippopotamus Ivory from ...

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Chapter 4<br />

The Archaeological, Historical, and Osteological Evidence for <strong>the</strong> Provenance <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Elephant</strong> <strong>Ivory</strong> in <strong>the</strong> Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean<br />

Like <strong>the</strong> hippopotamus, <strong>the</strong>re are two main areas <strong>from</strong> which <strong>the</strong> elephant ivory<br />

could have been obtained in <strong>the</strong> eastern Mediterranean in <strong>the</strong> Late Bronze Age: Egypt<br />

and Syria. However, <strong>the</strong> reconstruction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trade in elephant ivory is complicated by<br />

<strong>the</strong> fact that Egypt acted as an intermediary, acquiring elephant ivory <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> lands to<br />

<strong>the</strong> south (sub-Saharan Africa), and possibly to <strong>the</strong> west. Indeed elephant ivory <strong>from</strong><br />

North Africa (with or without Egypt as an intermediary) is just as viable as an alternative<br />

provenance. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, instead <strong>of</strong> dealing with one species, as in <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

hippopotamus, two species <strong>of</strong> elephant must be considered: <strong>the</strong> African elephant<br />

(Loxodonta africana, see Figure 15) and <strong>the</strong> Syrian elephant, <strong>the</strong> western version <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). There are also two sub-species <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> African<br />

elephant: <strong>the</strong> Forest (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) and larger Bush (Loxodonta africana<br />

africana) elephant.<br />

Figure 15: The African elephant (Macdonald 1984: 455)<br />

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