Ivory ID Flashcards
What animals are often targeted for ivory?
Elephants, boars, Narwahls, Walruses
What is the problem with identifying carved ivory?
It may be claimed to be antique or something other than ivory.
What is the cutoff year for antique ivory?
1947
Where is much mammoth ivory traded from?
Siberia
What does LWUV involve?
Placing the suspect material in front of a black background and exposing it to LWUV, ivory tends to fluoresce a blueish-white colour.
What is the problem with LWUV?
antler and bone can also sometimes fluoresce blue-white.
How can antler and bone be observationally distinguished from ivory?
The centre of antler is spongy and less dense than ivory and bone is lighter and hollow.
What are the advantages of raman spectroscopy in identifying ivory?
Requires very little material so useful for carvings.
Non-destructive.
Can distinguish Asian and African elephants as well as bone.
What is the disadvantage of raman spectroscopy?
Requires specialist equipment so expensive.
What new method has been employed in Kenyan airports for ivory detection?
Dogs
What genetic marker is used for identifying ivory?
Cytochrome b
How can mammoth and elephant ivory be distinguished?
Shreger lines - different angles
How can elephant ivory be dated?
Using radioisotopes
What are the advantages of ivory as forensic evidence?
Quite distinctive when intact.
Carver may leave DNA or fingerprints
What are the disadvantages of ivory as forensic evidence?
When carved, may need specialist, expensive techniques to ID.
Difficult to extract DNA from mineral matrix without denaturing it.
