Image: Woolly mammoth engraved on ivory found in 1864

Description: A portion of the outside layer of a Tusk of an Elephant, most probably a Mamuioth (Elephas primigenius, Blumenbach). An account of its discovery was given by M. Lartet in the ' Comptes Rendus de 1' Academic des Sciences,' 1865. See page 206. It is a thin oblong piece, convex from side to side with the roundness of the tusk, and somewhat concave in the longitudinal direction, owing to its curvature. The outer surface presents what at first appears to be a medley of faintly scratched lines ; but, on closer and more careful inspection, they resolve themselves into a characteristic outline of a hairy Elephant, with some of the lines doubled and redoubled apparently by the old artist's repeated attempts to sketch out the main features of his subject. The lofty skull and hollow forehead are recognizable as striking features, characteristic of the Siberian Mammoth at St. Petersburg *, of the skull of the Mammoth from Ilford, Essex, preserved in the British Museum t, and of the Belgian Mammoth at Brussels j. The small eye and long trunk of the Elephant, and the great curved tusks and shaggy hair peculiar to the Mammoth, are easily recognized. The upper and more convex sketch-lines of the back agree with the high withers of the Mammoth ; and the lower and sloping dorsal lines probably had reference, in the draughtsman's mind, to some special attitude of the animal, with which also the outstretched portion of the hind leg, and the elevated tail, may be associated.
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