ABOVE AND BELOW PHOTOS SHOW THE NATURAL COMPLETE TUSK END THAT WAS ATTACHED INTO THE SKULL. THE RIBBED SURFACE NEAR THE OPENING SHOWS THE GROWTH LINES AS IT EMERGED FROM THE SKULL ALVEOLI. THE CONICAL-SHAPED CAVITY IS AN INDICATOR THAT THIS IS A TRUE COMPLETE BACK END OF THE TUSK AND NOT A BROKEN MID-SECTION. IF SOMEONE SAYS THEY HAVE A "COMPLETE" TUSK AND THE PROXIMAL END IS NOT A BULLET-NOSE CONCAVE OPENING LIKE SHOWN BELOW, THEN IT IS ONLY A PARTIAL BROKEN SECTION.
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LARGE SHARPLY CURVED WOOLLY MAMMOTH NATURAL TUSK SECTION OF SOLID CHOICE GRADE FOSSIL IVORY North Sea, Holland LATE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD: 200,000 - 20,000 years ago IVORY BANS ON OWNERSHIP, IMPORT AND EXPORT DO NOT REGULATE FOSSIL IVORY. This fossil specimen is not subject to any bans. It can be legally owned and shipped to anyone anywhere. WOOLLY MAMMOTH TUSKS are one of the most visually impressive large display fossils. Even the casual observer recognizes this type of fossil and the value and appreciation of a fossil ivory tusk from the great Woolly Mammoth has garnered international appeal and awe. The famous Wooly mammoth can be considered the mascot animal of the Earth's final Ice Age and this massive beast most certainly gained respect to all that got in its way including both Neanderthals and modern humans. With this listing we offer a huge, very robust natural tusk section of the absolute finest grained solid fossil ivory from the great Woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, of the last European Ice Age. Without question, this is an example of the finest possible quality of fossil mammoth tusk ivory one can display in its natural state! Weight is 22 pounds. This impressive natural tusk section is from one of the largest tusks we have offered and certainly, from the most curved. This is not a partial mid-section but is an entire back portion with a complete proximal end that would have been embedded in the skull of a giant bull mammoth. Be wary of dealers claiming to sell "COMPLETE" tusks. We have seen numerous sellers that are selling only partial mammoth tusk sections that have artificially ground and shaped "tips" on one end or simply a natural tusk tip with the other end a partial broken section. The way to identify if you truly have a complete tusk is to examine the back end that would have been attached to the skull. The third photo from the bottom shown above, shows the true end of a mammoth tusk - a concave opening that is a conical, bullet-shaped hole with smooth sides. Broken sections just have solid or tree-ring cross-sections, not this unique end cavity. The rich colors of the multi-hued fossil ivory are accented by rich fire orange and black mottling. There is a really sharp and dramatic natural curvature to this tusk. This solid, unbroken section would have come from a very large tusk! This is a single, intact section of NATURAL and ORIGINAL fossil Woolly mammoth tusk without any additional sections composited or added. With most "complete" tusks sold on the market being made up of several broken sections from multiple tusks, this is a perfect display specimen for the discriminating collector or purist as this is a true single unbroken tusk section from a single mammoth. A beautiful custom made stand is included as shown hand-crafted out of hardwood and stainless steel. At a price far less than a complete specimen and without the limitations of where to display it! Tusk section is natural as found with minor cracks filled and a light chemical sealer to protect and preserve the ivory. Perfect to display with Primitive Man tools and artifacts since these beasts played such an important part in so many ways of the lives of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. SPECIAL NOTE: Russian (Siberian) mammoth tusks are so common that they are typically priced by weight instead of the individual merit of the specimen because of the huge quantity of Russian (Siberian) tusks available. They are like a commodity, not a rarity. Furthermore, some "complete" Russian (Siberian) mammoth tusks are nothing more than artificially created composites made from sections attached together, expertly painted to hide the seams and sealed in epoxy resin. Other Russian (Siberian) tusks are nothing more than a broken section that has an end ground to a point to look like a tusk end. True European Woolly mammoth fossils are far more scarce and rarer than Russian (Siberian) fossils and fetch higher market prices because of this.
Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) were first recorded in Eurasian deposits of the second to the last Ice Age, approximately 150,000 years ago. Woolly mammoths descended from the Steppe mammoths (Mammuthus trogontherii). Over time, the cheek teeth of Woolly mammoths evolved into a design of more numerous and tightly arranged enamel plates with less thickness. The tusks of the Woolly mammoth developed a more dramatic curvature and their overall body size decreased. The tusks of the Woolly mammoth were most notable and amongst the largest of all elephants - both living and extinct. Tusk lengths could attain 16 feet and were often dramatically curved. It is theorized the tusks of a Woolly mammoth were used as a form of rake or shovel to sweep aside snow in search of food when foraging. These changes were advantageous in surviving the increasingly cold conditions of the last Ice Age. Such teeth modifications enabled the Woolly mammoths to chew tougher tundra vegetation. The reduction of body size accompanied by the reduction of the ears and trunk along with the development of a thicker pelt enabled the mammoths to survive in the harshness of a frozen world. A full grown Woolly mammoth stood around 10 - 12 feet high at the shoulder and weighed in at 6 - 8 tons. Despite connotations of the word "mammoth" indicating immense proportions, the Woolly mammoth is actually not the largest mammoth that ever lived. The Imperial mammoth was the largest and the North American Columbian mammoth was even larger than the Woolly mammoth. The Woolly mammoth was about the same size as a present day Indian elephant but with a layer of fat and fur. Preserved carcasses have been found in frozen tundra which allows us to know what the heavy coat of the Woolly mammoth was like. Their fur was similar to that of the musk ox, consisting of long, dark hairs and fine under wool, with dark-grey skin and an insulating fat layer. It is most likely that Woolly mammoths molted in summer like Musk oxen. Another prominent feature of the Woolly mammoth was a high-domed skull with high-peaked shoulders resulting from the long spines of the neck vertebrae likely to anchor a large fat deposit.
Mammoths were herbivores. The teeth of a mammoth are amongst the most bizarre teeth of any animal ever known. From the side, they resemble an extended accordion and are made up of a row of vertically oriented attached plates that when worn, create a washboard-like grinding surface. This surface was ideally suited to grinding up hard-to-digest foods such as tough grasses and other thick vegetation. A mammoth has four teeth in its skull, two uppers (one on each side) and two lowers. Over the course of the life of the animal, six sets of teeth will grow, a worn set being pushed forward and out to make room for a new and unworn set. This characteristic is still true of modern elephants. A baby mammoth at age 6 will have already had three sets of teeth. By 13 years of age, the fourth set emerges followed by a fifth set at age 27 years. The final set of teeth come in around 43 years of age and as it wears away, the animal eventually starves to death and dies on average between 60 and 80 years of age. Interestingly, the animal's life is limited by the fact that after the sixth set, no new teeth grow in to replace the final worn down set and the animal is no longer able to chew its food. Mammoth teeth can also tell us the age and species of the creature. Scientists can approximate age by comparing the length and width of the molars to corresponding age and tooth size charts from modern elephants. The species is determined by the number of ridges found in the first four inches of the flat chewing surface.
It is believed that the end of the last Ice Age and the warming of the Earth caused the Woolly mammoths to die out at the end of the Pleistocene Period. The DNA of an extinct wooly mammoth is 95% identical to an Indian elephant. With recent discoveries of wooly mammoth remains frozen in tundra, there are ongoing attempts to clone intact DNA with that of the modern Indian elephant. Woolly mammoth remains have been found in northern regions of North America, Eurasia and Europe. OUR LARGEST, MOST DRAMATICALLY CURVED NATURAL TUSK SECTION OF THE FINEST GRADE FOSSIL IVORY
A SUBSTANTIAL ANTERIOR PORTION FROM A VERY LARGE AND SHARPLY CURVED MAMMOTH TUSK- FROM A LARGE BULL WOOLLY MAMMOTH! 44.25" long with a 12.75" circumference $4350 LM8-070 INCLUDES STAND Actual Item - One Only |
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Emerging 55 million
years ago, the group of mammals called Proboscideans are identified by
the presence of tusks and a trunk and include mammoths, mastodons and
elephants. The oldest mammoth remains have placed the beginnings
of the beasts in Africa but eventually, they migrated to Europe and
Asia. Around 1.7 million years ago, the Ancestral mammoth began
reaching North America and later evolved into the Columbian mammoth,
otherwise known as the American mammoth. 
Woolly
mammoths had smaller ears and a shorter trunk than modern-day elephants.
Many Woolly mammoths have been found with large, elaborately curved
tusks. Both the males and females possessed tusks, but the
females’ tusks were smaller. Tusks began to form at birth and
continued growing throughout life, adding about a 1/4 inch a year in
thickness as they grew. Most of the tusk is comprised of a
material called dentin but in layman's terms, we call it ivory.
The undersides of Woolly mammoth tusks often show wear, suggesting that
they were used in scraping snow and ice off ground cover vegetation
during feeding. Woolly mammoths also use their tusks for
protection against predators, attraction during mating and as a display
of dominance to other Woolly mammoths. The longest tusk ever found
was almost 16 feet and weighs 208 pounds.
In
the latter years of the last Ice Age, the Woolly mammoth co-existed with
humans such as the Neanderthal and the Cro-Magnon people.
Prehistoric cave paintings in France and Spain have been found with
images of the Woolly mammoth including hunting scenes. Throughout
world regions where Woolly mammoths existed at the same times as humans,
kill sites have been discovered where mammoth carcasses had been
butchered. At these sites, scientists have found both
