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

(personal communication cited in Bourgeois 1993: 64), a sentiment shared by Potts
(1987: 69). He considers the ivories from Anatolia as indirect evidence of Syrian
workshops “since this is the closest possible source of raw material. The Syrians are
unlikely not to have exploited a resource desired by others. The relative scarcity of
ivories in MB Syria-Lebanon probably reflects more the extent of reuse and the ill
fortune of discovery than a genuine dearth.” The second phase of Anatolian ivory-
working may be illustrated by an example from Palestine. A small plaque from Megiddo
dates stylistically to the 13 th century Hittite empire, but represents one Anatolian ivory in
a hoard of three hundred ivories, and was moreover possibly transported to Megiddo after
the fall of the Hittite empire (Alexander 1991: 182). The second-phase Anatolian ivory
workshops would have acquired their ivory from the Syrian elephant herds in southeast
Turkey/North Syria, or imported hippopotamus and elephant ivory from Syria. These
workshops were outshadowed, however, by the Syrian workshops.
Ivory Workshops in Syria
The Amarna letters of the 18 th Dynasty record the Mittani of Syria as sending
ivory or ivory objects to Egypt (EA 22), probably as some sort of gift-exchange between
rulers (Hayward 1990: 104; Bass 1997: 160). As described in Chapter Four, Syria had
hippopotami and elephants living in the region, and two elephant tusks were recovered
from the destruction level of the 18th century B.C. palace of Alalakh (Scullard 1974: 30;
Miller 1986: 30; Krzyszkowska 1990: 50). There was also the mistaken identity business
of the 8 th century B.C. Al Mina ‘tusks’ later shown to be horn cores (Krzyszkowska
1990: 50; Francis and Vickers 1983: 249-251).
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