Title: Ivory | natural material | Britannica
Headings: Ivory
Ivory
natural material
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Ivory

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Ivory
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Ivory, variety of dentin of which the tusk of the elephant is composed and which is prized for its beauty, durability, and suitability for carving. The tusk is the upper incisor and continues to grow throughout the lifetime of male and female African elephants and of the male Indian elephant; the female Indian elephant has no tusks or small ones. The teeth of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, sperm whale, and some types of wild boar and warthog are recognized as ivory but have little commercial value, because of their small size. Elephant tusks from Africa average about 6 feet (2 metres) in length and weigh about 50 pounds (23 kg) each; tusks from Asian elephants are somewhat smaller. The elephant’s tusk grows in layers, the inside layer being the last produced. About a third of the tusk is embedded in the bone sockets of the animal’s skull. The head end of the tusk has a hollow cavity that runs for some distance along its interior, but the tusk gradually becomes entirely solid, with only a narrow nerve channel running through its centre to the tip of the tusk. ivory necklace
Ivory necklace, Lega culture, Congo region, Africa, 1901–30;