The History of Ivory

A hard, creamy substance that looks like a bone, ivory comes from the teeth of animals such as elephants, walrus, and mammoths. The teeth of most animals, in fact, have ivory.

The teeth, however, is referred to as the dentin. Ivory, on the other hand, refers to the material or the product used in commerce or trading. It is made up of water, organic matter, and calcium phosphate. True ivory, when exposed to abrupt temperature fluctuations, may give in to cracking.

Today, ivory is popular as a material for making billiard balls and piano keys, as well as smaller objects such as jewelry, pins, and buttons. Ivory has long been used for many purposes, dating back on the ancient times. Read on the history of ivory that follows and you will appreciate the importance of this valuable substance.

In the early times, people in Babylonia, Cyprus, Egypt, Crete, and Assyria used ivory to create ornamental objects. Romans and Greeks also used ivory extensively in the prehistoric times.

In the Renaissance period, ivory was a common material for making statuettes, inlay work, caskets, and crucifixes. In the 1600s, ivory started to be traded between countries.

However, the diminishing population of elephants and the discovery of alternatives to ivory (e.g. vegetable ivory, plastic, synthetic ivory, etc.) led to the weakened ivory trade in the middle of the 20th century. That doesn’t stop, though, the high demand for ivory and ivory trades done illegally.

A global ban on ivory trade was implemented in 1990, an action which was intended to thwart the near extinction of elephants and other animals whose tusks are used as sources of ivory.