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

the east. Elephant molars have also been found at Ugarit and identified as coming from
the Asian species (Elephas maximas) (Hooijer 1978: 187-188, cited by Krzyszkowska
1990: 27). Other early evidence for the Syrian elephant, albeit in the form of tusks,
comes from Chagar Bazar in the Jezirah (c. 2000 B.C.), Megiddo, and the destruction
level of the 18th century B.C. palace of Alalakh in northwest Syria (Scullard 1974: 30;
Miller 1986: 30). Alalakh also yielded examples of worked ivory from the early 2 nd
millennium B.C., as did Ebla and Byblos. Pre-cut pieces of elephant ivory were
interpreted as evidence for an active ivory workshop in Acemhöyük in Anatolia
(Bourgeois 1993: 63).
Historical evidence from Egypt also advocates for a Syrian source of elephant
ivory. Thutmosis I recorded his endeavors of hunting elephants, as did his grandson
Thutmosis III. The Annals of Tuthmosis III include 18 elephant tusks as tribute from
Syria-Palestine circa 1439 B.C. (Hayward 1990: 103). However, he also claims to have
hunted and killed 120 elephants in Neya (or Niy), a region reconstructed as being located
in the Ghab north of Hama, the Orontes Valley, or the Euphrates region near Aleppo, but
nevertheless somewhere in Northwestern Syria (Miller 1986: 31; Krzyszkowska 1990:
15; Hayward 1990: 103-4; Kuhrt 1995: 323; see Figure 22 for location of Ghab and the
Orontes Valley). In the Tomb of Rekhmire (the vizier to Thutmosis II) Syrians are
depicted as bringing an elephant as tribute (smaller than life-size- perhaps ascribable to
artistic license; see Figure 23) (Krzyszkowska 1990: 14; Scullard 1974: 28). The
fourteenth century B.C. tombs of Meryra II and Huya also represent Syrians as bringing
copper oxhide ingots and elephant tusks (Bass 1997: 160).
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