Mammoth Tusks

The article discusses the extraction of mammoth tusks in the system of traditional crafts of the indigenous peoples of the North and the development of the Arctic economy. It identifies the contribution of this type of traditional crafts of the indigenous peoples to improving the quality of life of the local population, promoting employment, and generating income. The article substantiates the need to consider the extraction of mammoth bone as an element of the green economy in the Arctic territories and as a substitute for natural resources. Thus, in the context of the ban on the trade in ivory and the continued global demand for ivory products, it is proposed to consider the tusks of the fossil mammoth as a substitute resource for the preservation of living elephants. The article shows the dynamics of mammoth bone extraction in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) from 2003 to 2024, with a total extraction of 165 tons in 2024. Based on sociological surveys conducted among the local population in the mammoth bone mining areas of Yakutia in January-May 2025, which involved 360 participants from the indigenous peoples of the North, the main factors and challenges faced by mammoth tusk collectors were identified. These included high costs for purchasing machinery and equipment, the lack of transportation access to the mammoth tusk collection areas, difficulties in obtaining a license to collect mammoth tusk, challenges in selling the collected mammoth tusk, and the presence of illegal miners in the industry who create competition. To support the indigenous peoples in terms of the sale of mammoth bone, it is proposed to establish trading posts for the purchase of such products from the local population, as well as measures to develop its export. Recommendations are given on supporting the traditional crafts of the indigenous peoples of the North, including economic incentives for the extraction of mammoth bone, as well as support for socio-economic development projects in the Arctic territories by mining companies.

Studying the consequences of exploitation of indigenous territories is an urgent topic of modern science. This study presents the result of the research on the history of the development of a special type of resources — mammoth tusks in northern Yakutia. The paper is aimed at the analysis of impact of the new sector of the eco-nomy in the region on the local communities. It was also important to identify the sequence of the events that facilitated this development. The methodological basis of the study is represented by the historical method of ana-lyzing archival data, periodicals, and legal and scientific literature on this subject. Sources for the paper included materials from the National Archive of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), regional periodicals, as well as legal and reference materials covering this crucial stage in the development of the local indigenous communities. Despite the fact that extraction of fossil mammoth bone has been carried out for a long time, its active development began only at the end of the 20th century. The formation and progress of such a new type of mining activity has left a special impression on the development of the local population engaged in the traditional farming. Opportunities and the weak state control in this area have created favorable conditions for the emergence of a special environ-ment for economic relations. This has had a significant impact on social well-being of the local indigenous peo-ples. During this period, a special situation developed when, due to objective reasons, mammoth tusks turned from an object of natural origin that did not cause any interest into a valuable, highly sought resource. The gro-wing global demand for mammoth remains and the removal of barriers for external contacts in the Soviet Union stimulated the rapid development of the fundamentally different structure of socio-economic relations in the Arctic zone. As a result, this situation greatly influenced the state of the local indigenous communities. The areas of their traditional living became a territory of intensive development of “new resources”, which brought about real envi-ronmental and social threats, but also new opportunities. The new prospects, as well as the state unreadiness to regulate the emerging market of “wild” mammoth bone, created all conditions for the emergence of a special area of economic relations spanning the Arctic regions of Yakutia. This almost neglected factor undoubtedly had sig-nificant impact on the social well-being of the indigenous peoples living in the region at the end of the 20th century.

Objective: The aim of this article is to justify an approach to natural resource substitution using fossilised mammoth bones from the Arctic to conserve live elephants. Theoretical Framework - The theoretical idea and basis of the article is the replacement of ivory with the tusks of extinct mammoths against the background of melting permafrost in the Arctic. This approach is considered within the framework of a kind of 'mammoth pipeline' - the journey of extinct fossil mammoth tusks and their transformation into eternal values in the form of exclusive products, as well as their ultimate contribution to the conservation of living elephant populations. The theoretical basis of the study is the concept of sustainable development, the theory of natural resource substitution, biodiversity conservation, the concept of benefit sharing paradigm in Arctic mining. Method - The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach using methods from economics and management, ethnology and palaeontology, social research and monitoring. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the ivory to mammoth tusk substitution scheme is considered in terms of the benefits to global biodiversity conservation, including the maintenance of wild elephant populations and the development of traditional fisheries by indigenous peoples of the North. Results and Discussion - This article assesses the world resource of mammoth bone remains, concentrated in the Russian Arctic, and shows the possibilities of their use as a substitute natural resource for elephant conservation and socio-economic development of areas inhabited by indigenous peoples of the North. The influence of ongoing climate change on the increase in the extraction of fossil mammoth tusks is shown. The stages and links of the 'mammoth pipeline' under consideration, including the extraction of mammoth bones, the export and trade of tusks, and the substitution of mammoth tusks for ivory, are substantiated. The factors influencing the formation of the world demand for mammoth tusks are identified and the directions of their use for elephant conservation and socio-economic development of the local population in the Arctic territories in the areas of their extraction are shown. Research Implications - The results of the study can be used to conserve global biodiversity, develop a green economy, substitute mammoth tusks for ivory and conserve elephant populations. The authors estimate that supplying the world market with an average of 10 kilograms of mammoth ivory can save one elephant; exporting even half of the mammoth tusks extracted in Yakutia can save 60,000 elephants. At the same time, issues of social and economic support for the traditional trades and livelihoods of the indigenous peoples of the North are being addressed. Originality/ Value - The originality of the research and its value lie in the new scientific formulation of the solution to the scientific problem of global biodiversity conservation through the substitution of natural resources, the use of own empirical data obtained in the Arctic territories, as well as the possibility of practical application of the results obtained in the field of green economy.

This article is dedicated to the history of making jewelry from mammoth tusk in the Yakut culture. The hypothesis is advanced that Yakut mammoth tusk carving stems from the local traditions of wood carving and scrimshaw, and represents the raw material for making household items for the local population, and use of tusk as a raw material is associated with the appearance of the first professional scrimshaw craftsmen in Yakutia. The first part of the article examines the history of tusk carving and the prerequisites for the emergence of the new direction in jewelry. The second part of the article describes the peculiarities of making mammoth tusk jewelry in the modern Yakut culture. The current problems of taking, sale and use of mammoth tusk are relevant topics in the scientific discourse. However, jewelry and souvenirs from mammoth tusk, as well as the origins of modern scrimshaw in Yakutia have not previously become the subject of special research. For giving a better perspective on the problem the author interviewed the Soviet and contemporary artisans. It is established that influence of the Soviet scrimshaw school is still traced in modern neo-mythologized representations. The pliability of the material and availability of the raw materials for the Yakut craftsmen substantiated the popularity of the mammoth tusk and its adaptability to modern fashion trends.

Objectives – The article explores the relationship between mammoth fossils and the number of African elephants. The research is aimed at solving two interrelated fundamental problems: the development of mechanisms to support traditional crafts of the indigenous peoples of the North in the field of extraction and rational use of mammoth fauna, as well as a methodology for replacing natural resources by using fossil mammoth bones instead of exterminating the tusks of living elephants. Theoretical Framework – The concept of sustainable development, the theory of substitution of natural resources, conservation of biodiversity, the concept of Benefit Sharing Paradigm in mining in the Arctic. Method – The methods of systematic and economic-ecological analysis, statistical, computational and analytical methods, sociological methods, conducting expeditions, methods of ethnological monitoring, cost-benefit assessment, and substitution of natural resources are used. Results and Discussion – The extraction of fossil tusks of extinct mammoths in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) allows us to consider it as a substitute natural resource. A mechanism is proposed to preserve the elephant population in the wild by replacing ivory with tusks of fossil mammoths. It has been established that on average 10 kilograms of mammoth bone can save one elephant, the export of even half of the mammoth tusks mined in Yakutia allows saving 60,000 African elephants annually. Research Implications – The task of integrated use of mammoth tusks and conservation of elephant populations is being solved, and methods of preserving global biodiversity are being developed. Originality/Value – Mammoth tusks are considered in various aspects: as a scientific and cultural value; as an object of trade; the sphere of employment and income of the indigenous peoples of the North, as a resource replacing the needs and demand for ivory

Previous results from remains of tusks, teeth and bones collected from Wrangel Island (Vartanyan et al. 1995) had given results in the range 3730 bp to 20,000 bp and the authors had concluded that “mammoths inhabited Wrangel Island for as long as 6000 yr after the estimated extinction on the Siberian continent”. There still remained the question of the earliest date for such remains. Further, the authors had noted such samples may present some difficulty in dating and therefore duplicate samples had been measured in a second laboratory with satisfactory results. The replicate dating of important or controversial samples in more than one laboratory is well-established (e.g., Turin Shroud) and in this paper, we present results for 5 mammoth samples dated by 6 laboratories. Such interlaboratory comparisons provide an independent means of verification of laboratory comparability, and give added confidence in the results, particularly when applied to more controversial samples. A further objective of the work has been to evaluate the material for inclusion in any large-scale interlaboratory comparison, such comparisons having in the past formed part of laboratory quality assurance protocols. The design and organization of a laboratory intercomparison requires homogeneous samples in sufficient quantity to satisfy participants, and so in principle, a single mammoth tusk would meet these criteria. Samples such as the mammoth tusk have been used in previous intercomparisons: e.g., in the last large-scale international intercomparison (Gulliksen and Scott 1995), whalebone was one of the materials distributed. One of the key advantages of such material is that a single sample (a mammoth tusk) can be resampled for analysis by multiple labs and thus does not require bulk homogenization. Therefore, as part of a preselection process for a future intercomparison, five samples from separate mammoth tusks were collected from Wrangel Island in 1995 in sufficient quantity to allow multiple dating. The aim was to identify five separate samples of young age, sample up to 1 kg from each tusk and mark the location so that after preliminary dating, samples could be retrieved as required in the future. Six laboratories received samples for dating. The paper will discuss the results from the laboratories, present consensus values, and make recommendations concerning use of these samples in a future laboratory intercomparison.

This article explores the extraction of mammoth tusks in the Arctic region of Russia, with a focus on sustainable development. It evaluates the global reserves of mammoth bone fossils, primarily concentrated in the Russian Arctic, and highlights their potential economic uses. The research identifies the importance of mammoth tusk extraction for local employment, poverty alleviation, and improving the quality of life for indigenous peoples, particularly in Yakutia. Key factors contributing to the growth of this industry include the global ban on ivory trade and climate change. The aim of this study is to propose a legal framework to support traditional crafts among indigenous peoples of the North and to justify the use of fossilized mammoth bones as an alternative to elephant ivory. Theoretical foundations of the research include sustainable development, natural resource substitution, biodiversity conservation, and the Benefit Sharing Paradigm in Arctic mining. The study reveals gaps in the current regulatory framework, such as the lack of a formal system for purchasing raw materials from locals and unclear classification procedures for mammoth bones as cultural or scientific artifacts. The article proposes an economic and regulatory mechanism to address these issues, including licensing, trade platforms, and local factory development. The findings contribute to the safe and sustainable development of the Arctic region, supporting both indigenous livelihoods and a green economy.

The fossil mammoth tusk is a unique biogenic material, which is widely used for the production of souvenirs and luxury goods. The burial of mammoth fauna animal’s remains in permafrost ensured high preservation. Due to the complete ban on hunting African and Asian elephants introduced in 1990 by UNESCO, the demand for fossil ivory has increased. Today, up to 80 % of mammoth bone deposits is harvested in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. The paper describes some traditional techniques of mammoth tusk mining and proves the efficiency of the GPR (ground penetrating radar) for prospecting underwater accumulations of fossil mammoth bone. The aim of the survey was increasing the efficiency of the GPR sounding technique for the detection of mammoth bone under water. The comprehensive GPR area survey was used to identify areas promising to contain underwater accumulations of fossil mammoth bone. Because the release of bone material from productive layers is caused by river erosion and thermal erosion processes a meandering section of the Kolyma River was selected for the research. Thermal erosion plays a more prominent role in the release of bone material in the headwaters of small watercourses, in deltas, and in the bottoms of incipient gullies. Fossil mammoth bones are usually found on riverbanks (low floodplain, channel spits) — in areas where the river erodes the slopes of remnants composed of edomorphic complex formations or in close proximity to them. The GPR application makes it possible to study the bottom relief in detail and thus can identify areas promising in terms of the formation of secondary accumulations of mammoth bones. The key features of bone remain accumulations have been identified: natural depressions or obstacles that mammoth bone can get caught on when sinking to the bottom of the water body; accumulation of the heaviest fragments in the deepest depressions at the bottom of the water body; accumulation of smaller fragments on sedimentary shoals. An algorithm for the GPR surveying of water bodies promising in terms of mammoth bone detection has been developed.

The article presents the results of a comprehensive study of the Ogonyok burial, discovered and investigated in 2016 in the city of Yakutsk, Central Yakutia, in the middle reaches of the Lena River. The purpose of the study was to determine its cultural and chronological characteristics, to identify the features of the funeral rite and spe-cifics of the accompanying grave goods. In addition to historical and archaeological methods, the methods of tra-sological analysis of stone tools, radiocarbon dating and date calibration, isotope analysis of human and animal bone collagen, and determination of the species composition of the fauna that was part of the burial equipment were used. The burial place was destroyed during land works, as such, only part of the accompanying equipment and osteological material was preserved for the analyses. Excavations of the remains of the burial were carried out, which made it possible to determine approximately its orientation, the position of the deceased and the depth from the day surface. Similarities to the accompanying goods, which included a flint core and three blades, an arrowhead, polished adze, bone composite arrowhead with a blade in the groove, anthropomorphic figurine from a mammoth tusk, fragments of a bone polisher and a needle, as well as faunal remains, were found in the com-plexes of the Bel'kachi Neolithic Culture of Northeast Asia of the end of the 5th–3rd mil. BC. Further analogies were identified in the synchronous Neolithic cultures of the Baikal, Transbaikalia, Lower Amur region, Primorsky Krai and Chukotka. The funeral ritual of filling the grave with ocher also brings the Ogonyok burial closer to other Bel'kachi cemeteries. Paleozoological analysis has shown that bones of lynx, wild reindeer and geese were pre-sent in the burial. Four AMS radiocarbon dates were obtained from human and animal bones, which attribute the burial in the first quarter of the 4th mil. BC. An interesting fact was the identification of an offset in the age of hu-man bones relatively to the age of animal bones, the former being approximately 200 years older, which is appa-rently associated with freshwater reservoir effect. Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes demonstrated that the human diet was based on meat food, as well as, apparently, fish products, with a minor inclusion of wild plants. The burial of Ogonyok is one of the few “pure” sites of the Bel'kachi Neolithic Culture in Yakutia.

A catalogue of all known remains of mammoth in Denmark is presented, comprising 125 finds. Half of the mammoth material is molars, which are morphologically referred to Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach), a third is tusk, and the rest is bone fragments. 14 specimens of mammoth have been C-14 dated. 13 samples have ages from older than 40 000 to ca 21500 C-14 years B.P., and one sample gave an age of ca 13200 C-14 years B.P. As the skeletal material is redeposited, these dates at the same time give maximum ages of the glacial deposits in which they are found. On the basis of this evidence the glacial development during the Weichselian is reviewed. An ice-free period from before 45000 B.P. to around 20 000 years B.P. is indicated. A mammoth tusk from the Tirstrup sandur on Djursland, dated to 13240 +760/-690 B.P., marks an important stage in the ice retreat in Denmark, and shows that the mammoth re-immigrates after the maximum expansion of the Weichselian ice. Remains of other Late Pleistocene vertebrates are also mentioned. On the basis of floral and faunal remains the environmental changes during the Late Pleistocene are then reconstructed. The ice-free period in the Middle Weichselian was characterized by a steppe biome, which may appropriately be termed the mammoth steppe. This Weichselian environment seems to be incomparable to any environment known today.

The United Kingdom, with the introduction of the Ivory Act 2018, is at the forefront of elephant protection, and it is hoped that governmental commitments, made in the 25 Year Environment Plan, will see increased protection for other species at risk due to the illegal wildlife trade. However, one species that currently falls outside of the regulation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) can be directly linked to the ivory trade: the mammoth. The woolly mammoth became extinct more than 10,000 years ago, but the genus Mammuthus, since its appearance in Africa c.5 ma, was one of the most successful megafaunal groups, radiating into 10 species and found across the Northern Hemisphere from Siberia to Crete. As the world warms and the permafrost melts, mammoth tusks are being uncovered across the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Siberia’s Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). There are close similarities between the tusks of elephants and mammoths, leading conservationists to fear that the increase in “ice ivory” heralds a new threat to elephants and our wider understanding of the “woolly” mammoth and its world.

The paper is concerned with the history of collecting and trade of fossil mammoth bones as a traditional occupa-tion of the indigenous population of the East Siberian Arctic in the 17th — early 20th c. For a long time the indigenous peoples of the North practiced individual collecting, incidental in the course of hunting, of fossil bones for their house-hold needs. Meanwhile, archaic ideas about the mammoth as a sacred chthonic animal served as a regulator of eco-logical balance of the traditional nature management, introducing constraints on the scope of the search and size of the spoils. Starting from the 17th c., the search for and quarry of fossil bone are most closely connected with the history of the colonization and exploration of the Arctic regions of Eastern Siberia by Russian pioneers. In the context of the de-velopment of commodity-money relations on the sea islands, artels were formed from among the northern Yakuts and Russian Arctic old-settlers, supplying tusk to the merchants who traded in furs and mammoth tusks. The extraction of fossil mammoth bones reached its peak in the middle of the 19th c., when the “Russian, or Moscow ivory” was current on the world market as the fifth grade, with the total assortment of six grades. At the turn of the 19th–20th cc. the mam-moth ivory industry in Yakutia was experiencing a crisis; the demand for the products of mammoth ivory within the coun-try was decreasing, merchants could not find markets, and ivory harvesting in Africa increased. However, despite these factors, this occupation preserved in places until the 1930s. In the modern conditions of the development of the Arctic, inclusion of collection and extraction of mammoth tusks in the list of traditional economic activities will help to solve economic and legal problems in this region in the interests of the indigenous population.

Les statuettes féminines en ivoire des faciès gravettiens et post-gravettiens en Europe centrale et orientale : modes de fabrication et de représentation

The paper studies the problem of interaction between merchantry and indigenous peoples of the North through the example of the mammoth tusk mining industry. This interaction is interpreted from the point of view of the ideas of K. Polanyi who considers that economy of traditional society is rooted in social matter and that market has the transformative influence. The paper shows that at the turn of the 19th century, the exchange relations in which the merchants and the indigenous population of the North of Yakutia were based on debt morality that builds onto the moral foundations of traditional society. Trade capital formed different forms of interaction with the two emerged types of organization of mammoth tusk mining industry, namely with artels (formed mainly out of Yakut people of sedentary lifestyle) and individual and collective collection of tusks as a by-product (mainly by alien nomadic people). The different types of interaction took into account reciprocal and redistributive forms of integration of these economies and characteristics of their moral standards. It is particularly noted, that the industry disappears not after the gradual reduction of demand for mammoth tusk and its substitution on the global ivory markets, but only with the cessation of trade relations built on the basis of debt morality.

Although housing wealth in general, and own residence in particular, accounts for the greatest share in the household wealth composition irrespective of the country, the issue of housing as a source of additional income in kind is rarely addressed in the current literature. The study explores the distribution of imputed rental income among older households. It aims to assess the role of the income in kind in shaping the welfare of the elderly, and specifically, its impact on poverty reduction. It also investigates how the inclusion of imputed rent in the income concept impacts inequality estimates. Our empirical research covers a cross-country comparative analysis that draws from Luxembourg Income Study database and includes seventeen countries. We examine the situation of older homeowners as compared to subsidized tenants and renters at market price to answer the question to what extent homeownership can act as a source of additional pension income. This entails also some policy implications regarding the justification for incentives and privileges for homeowners and homebuyers aimed at increasing homeownership rates, as well as the need for development of subsidized rental sector.