This time on Artifactually Speaking, I talk about a material that's banned for use today but that was often used in the ancient world to make high-end objects--ivory.
Trade in ivory grew so large in the modern era of the 19th and 20th centuries that it led to wholesale slaughter of elephants and the international community rightly banned it. Unfortunately, poaching of elephants for the illegal trade in ivory is still a problem, as is the looting of archaeological sites for the illegal trade in ancient artifacts.
In the ancient world, elephant (and hippopotamus) ivory was traded along major trade routes, and a great many ivory inlays were found at Nimrud in excavations over the past 200 years. It's no surprise that we've already uncovered several pieces, though none yet as highly detailed as some found many decades ago.
This particular piece is broken and relatively plain, but interesting for the evidence of how it was worked. It was probably set into a piece of furniture and it, in turn, originally had pieces of colored glass or frit imbedded in it. The slots to receive those inlays are intact and were drilled out with a hollow bit.
I really appreciate the explanation on how the rosette was formed by drilling. I find this kind of information very fascinating.
I think its amazing that you mentioned the problems of the ivory trade today while taking about this artifact. Great video.
Thank you for inviting us along on your expeditions. It really feels like a great privilege and a wonderful way to learn.
Ahhh! Glad to get another calm voiced educational video in my day 😊
Much awaited, much appreciated excellent insights as always.
It's almost 6am where I am and this was the best way to start the day. Thank you, Doc!
Amazing video! You always manage to pack fun information into your videos.
Thanks for taking the time to make these fascinating videos.
Fascinating and insightful as always.
Fans of Conan the Barbarian should note the Cimmerians to the North in the map at 3:14 Though Robert E Howard used the name for Conan's people, the books were set in about 10,000 BC and were fantasy with little relation to prehistory.
Reading the original short stories, it definitely always felt like he just took known names and places, with the small amount of context available in 1920-1930, and did as he pleased. They're still great stories, and always a great disruption to any notion that everyone a hundred years ago was writing stodgy, sterile fiction!
@@johnravely2872 A vast improvement over the fantasy stories of William Morris.
Fantastic video.
Thanks for another really interesting video!
Very, very cool ❤
Are there any examples of the kind of rosettes that would be inlaid?
Amazing👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤓🔎🔝
What happens to ivory artifacts that are found on sites? Do they need to be handled in any different way? Are they usually bound to the country in which they are found?
Conservators assess and treat sensitive artifacts like ivory to make sure they are stable and then they go to the Iraq national museum (or sometimes they go to the museum and then are treated by conservators). All artifacts we discover stay in Iraq. We are sometimes allowed scientific samples to take for analysis, but those come from soil or charcoal remains and the like, not from artifacts.
@@artifactuallyspeaking Thank you for the answer! Excellent video as always :)
Love it. Feel free to not assume I understand basic archeology. Besides that, this is great 👍
Woah that's a big ant!
I think we could ethically make ivory carvings today, all it would take would be to harvest it from an elephant that died of natural causes, the problem though would be how do you ensure that it was only taken from elephants that died naturally in the wild? It would probably be all too easy for poachers to disguise elephants they’ve killed as natural deaths, and even without that, by the time the new ivory makes it onto the market, it’d be impossible to determine how the elephant it came from died, so it’s for the better that there’s a blanket ban on new ivory products. Plus, I imagine it wouldn’t be too hard these days to artificially produce a material that can do all the thing ivory can or even do them better, making it all the more reason to ban the use of ivory. On the subject of the convention protecting animals doing a better job than those protecting historical artefacts - that doesn’t really surprise me; people tend to care more about animals than people (fairly sure it’s a long been the case that people donate to animal welfare charities more than human welfare charities, or even in some cases would donate money to animal welfare charities over paying higher taxes to fund social programmes given the choice). Plus a lot of people are uninterested in history sadly, so given the choice between doing something to save a ‘musty old artefact’ or something to save an animal alive here and now, they’ll choose the latter, so the black market has less incentive to trade in animal products and thus has a decreased interest in poaching to supply that trade.
I don't like ivory either, but I look at it the same way I do turtle shell. There's no need to make more, but I don't think the existing stock should be destroyed or hidden away. I understand why allowing old stock to be sold will always allow for an illegal market to prop up, because there'll always be people who want the real thing but can't afford it, especially the older the real thing becomes. But I don't see why these shouldn't be at least displayed in a museum.
What material would the drill have been? Bronze? How would the bits have been made?
The bits were probably bronze. Since it was hollow it was probably flattened sheet bronze rolled into a cylinder and used with an abrasive powder. Sand will do, though emery is best. The bit just needs to grind the abrasive into the ivory, cutting mostly with that rather than with the edge. They did this much earlier to make stone vases with a much bigger bit, so had long used abrasives to aid in cutting.
You can still technically get ivory in america it just has to come from mammoths and sold by a legit native Alaskan, and of course its freaking expensive
What would such a drill be made of? Would it be metal? Would someone make these punctures by twisting the drill somehow, maybe like those twist fire starters? Or would they be hammering it in there?
The bit would be made of metal, but the shaft might be made of wood. And they definitely used a bow drill, like a fire starting drill. I did another video about a cap to one of these drills dating to an earlier period, but the drill technology was much the same in this period.
@@artifactuallyspeaking professor thanks so much for answering all my questions! I am an American engineering student studying in The Netherlands and there is so much interesting stuff I just don't get to learn for my degree, since the economy pushed me to learn engineering. So thanks so much. I had no idea we had mechanical drills for that long. And I appreciate the videos directly from Iraq. It's so good to see the country as a place with such rich and fascinating history, not just war and carnage . I hope the best for the stability of the country and for your excavation projects.
Im trying to find a hat similar to yours. Where did you get it?
I got it from Forestry Suppliers, though I have molded the brim a bit and put a bandana around it: www.forestry-suppliers.com/p/24412/72671/mesh-survivor-field-hat
What if they were not creating an inlay... but were just drilling out small pieces of ivory for use in some other piece? the same way a wood worker will drill out wood plugs to use in a larger woodworking piece. Maybe they were just after small ivory plugs???
They might do that, but in this case it looks like the intention was to make an indentation in the finished block, since the drill pieces are next to one another to make a larger shape. If the drilled pieces came out complete, they might use them in other things, though, as you suggest.
A comment for incense to the KZhead algogods
Or algodemons in some myths.
I'll comment for the same reason. This God went by various names in different societies. Sometimes called Algog, Algored, Alucard, Almond, or even Lucifer.
hope that you don't see as many Gnats making your videos and doing your work
I love your content. Pls join Nebula so I can continue to watch. Ty!
I think you need a sponsor to join Nebula as a creator. I like their stuff, but I don't have an 'in'.
Really good way to start my morning, some brain food!