TAPERING HOLLOW SOCKET END IS THE COMPLETE PART OF THE TUSK THAT ACTUALLY WAS EMBEDDED IN THE SKULL. THE PRESENCE OF THIS ANATOMY DEMONSTRATES THAT THIS IS NOT A PARTIAL TUSK TIP BUT THE WHOLE COMPLETE TUSK WHICH INCLUDES THE COMPLETE PROXIMAL END.
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ROBUST THICK COMPLETE BULL WOOLLY MAMMOTH TUSK WITH BEAUTIFUL DARK COLORS 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 popular large display fossils of any collection. Even the casual observer recognizes this type of fossil and the value and appreciation of a COMPLETE 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 VERY RARE and COMPLETE solid prehistoric mammoth tusk of the great Woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, of the last European Ice Age. It is slightly less than 4 feet in length along the curve but has a circumference of a massive 12.5 inches! Many dealers sell short broken tips as "complete tusks" but this tusk has a feature that proves it is complete. The proximal end has a conical hollow end socket which was the part that was embedded into the skull. See third to last photo. A tusk of this thickness and size was likely the tusk of a bull mammoth, either just entering adulthood or formerly, a once longer tusk that was broken off in battle and later, worn smooth again on the tip during the beast's remaining life. Such tusks can be found in modern elephants similar to this. The colors of this specimen are really incredible - transitioning from brown to black to light brown and orange and then black again on the tip. The overall profile of this very robust specimen is truly spectacular resembling a bent missile! For the collector that has limited room in displaying a tusk but wishes to exhibit a COMPLETE tusk, this is a rare size for a complete example! This mammoth tusk is a very visually impressive . It is solid, very heavy and of the absolute finest preservation possible! A specimen of this quality from Europe is FAR MORE RARE than the Siberian examples. A simple search for tusks available on the market will prove this out. With most Woolly mammoth tusks from the North Sea being all eaten up from the salt water and damaged from marine environment, a fine grade example is practically impossible to come across in the market from this world source. This is not a partial tusk but is the ENTIRE tusk from tip to end where it emerged from the skull and is COMPLETE. A beautiful custom made stand is included as shown, hand-crafted out of hardwood and stainless steel. This remarkable specimen will surely appreciate in value over the years as European specimens are very rare compared to the never-ending supply it seems, of Siberian tusks being dug from thawing tundra. Siberian mammoth tusks are no where near as rare as European tusks. Their prevalence and high supply is proven by the method in which they are sold - by the weight! If you want a rare fossil of the "king" of Europe's final Ice Age, then it would be wise to invest in a scarcer European example. European deposits make finding a fine quality, complete tusk increasingly difficult and future potential European legislation forbidding their collecting could further add to European mammoth tusk price appreciation. This is a rare fossil, not a commodity like farm produce or scrap metal. As our focus is on rare fossils, we prefer to offer European fossil tusks which are rarer than their Siberian counterparts. In light of this, we do NOT sell our European specimens by the pound. European mammoth tusks of this quality and completeness are NOT valued by their weight, they are valued like any other rare fossil which is based on the rarity and preservation of the individual specimen. Fossils have always had a following from collectors, but their increase in popularity may be a result of the art world's move into the natural, historical and sensational. Movements in art influence exterior and interior design, and fossils are one of the nearest things you can get to tasteful and naturally decorative sculpture. Fossils are attractive because they will fit with stark minimalist interiors as well as junk-filled maximalist ones. Mammoth tusks from increasingly thawing Siberian tundra will continue to appear on the market but specimens from true European deposits are extremely rare in fine condition like this specimen. Their potential for appreciating as an investment is obvious as European material of this quality is very rare on the market. This specimen has been stabilized to protect from any deterioration or damage. It is safe and durable to display in any interior setting. Truly it will make for a "show-stopping" exhibit for any private or public setting.
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. 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.
44" long with a 12.5" circumference SOLD LM8-104 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
