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A cache of hippopotamus ivory at Gao, Mali; and a hypothesis of its use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Timothy Insoll
Timothy Insoll*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, England
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Extract

The hippopotamus is a large beast with large teeth—large enough for hippopotamus ivory, then and now, to be a useful alternative to elephant ivory (there are both kinds in the Aegean Bronze Age, as well as the little tusks of wild boar). A newly found cache of hippopotamus ivory at Gao, medieval city of the south Saharan edge, opens a wider place for the material in contact across the great north African desert.

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Antiquity , Volume 69 , Issue 263 , June 1995 , pp. 327 - 336
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Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1995

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