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Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
The Medawala Rajamaha Viharaya or Tempitiya Vihara, north of Kandy is a typical <i>tempath vihara</i>, a small wooden image house or shrine, placed on stilts or piles. The <i>tempath vihara</i> can be regarded as Kandy’s most significant contribution to Buddhist architecture, but there are not many specimen of its kind left.<br/><br/> Some of the frescoes in the Rajamaha Viharaya depict the king and the royal family; but they also depict the everyday life of the commoners, such as a farmer tilling his field with the help of a white bull. One enigmatic painting shows a recumbent Buddha, sleeping safely tucked away behind a mosquito net.<br/><br/> Though the frescoes exhibit all the hallmarks of the 18th century, the original construction of the Raja Mahavihara is said to go back to much earlier times. Despite the artistic merit of the frescoes, the most remarkable single feature in the image house is the small ivory figure of a Buddha. The figure is surrounded by an intricately carved wooden shrine.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Rati is the Hindu goddess of love, carnal desire, lust, passion and sexual pleasure. Usually described as the daughter of Prajapati Daksha, Rati is the female counterpart, the chief consort and the assistant of Kama (Kamadeva), the god of love. A constant companion of Kama, she is often depicted with him in legend and temple sculpture. She also enjoys worship along with Kama. Rati is often associated with the arousal and delight of sexual activity, and many sex techniques and positions derive their Sanskrit names from hers.<br/><br/> The Hindu scriptures stress her beauty and sensuality. They depict her as a maiden who has the power to enchant the god of love. When the god Shiva burnt her husband to ashes, it was Rati, whose beseeching or penance, leads to the promise of Kama's resurrection. Often, this resurrection occurs when Kama is reborn as Pradyumna, the son of Krishna. Separated from his parents at birth, Rati – under the name of Mayavati – plays a critical role in the upbringing of Pradyumna. She acts as his nanny, as well as his lover, and tells him the way to return to his parents by slaying the demon-king, who is destined to die at his hands. Later, Kama-Pradyumna accepts Rati-Mayavati as his wife.
The Gajapati Dynasty was established in Orissa by Kapilendra Deva in 1435, after the fall of the last Eastern Ganga king, Bhanudeva IV. The dynasty is also known as a Suryavamsi dynasty. In about 1450, Kapilendra Deva installed his eldest son, Hamira, as the governor of Rajamundry and Kondavidu. <br/><br/> During Kapilendra Deva's reign, Sarala Dasa, the Oriya poet, wrote the Oriya Mahabharata and his other works.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Pratt-Read was founded in Ivoryton, Connecticut, in 1798 as Pratt, Read & Company, originally producing beads, buttons, and billiard balls from elephant tusks imported from Africa. The company began to specialize in manufacturing ivory piano keys in 1839.
The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group and culture found in East Africa, mainly in the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya, Tanzania and northern Mozambique. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil, meaning 'coastal dwellers', and they speak the Swahili language.<br/><br/> The Swahili are original Bantu inhabitants on the coast of East Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. They are mainly united by culture and under the mother tongue of Kiswahili, a Bantu language. This also extends to Arab, Persian, and other migrants who reached the coast some believe as early as the 7th-8th c. CE, and mixed with the local people there, providing considerable cultural infusion and numerous loan words from Arabic and Persian.
Pratt-Read was founded in Ivoryton, Connecticut, in 1798 as Pratt, Read & Company, originally producing beads, buttons, and billiard balls from elephant tusks imported from Africa. The company began to specialize in manufacturing ivory piano keys in 1839.
The Hemudu culture (5500 to 3300 BCE) was a Neolithic culture that flourished just south of the Hangzhou Bay area in Jiangnan in modern Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. The culture may be divided into early and late phases, before and after 4000 BCE respectively.<br/><br/> The Hemudu people lived in long, stilt houses. Communal longhouses were also common in Hemudu settlements. The Hemudu were one of the earliest cultures to cultivate rice. Scholars view the Hemudu culture as a source of many proto-Austronesian cultures.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the eleventh son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan (chief of the Barakzai tribe) who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799.<br/><br/>He was the grandson of Hajji Jamal Khan who founded the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan. Dost Mahommed belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
In the 320s BCE, Alexander the Great captured the city of Bagram and established a fortified colony named Alexandria of the Caucasus. The new town had brick walls reinforced with towers at the angles. The central street was bordered with shops and workshops.<br/><br/> After his death in 323 BC, the city passed to his general Seleucus, who traded it to the Mauryan Dynasty of India in 305 BC. After the Mauryans were overthrown by the Sunga Dynasty in 185 BC, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom invaded and conquered Northwestern India (Present Day Pakistan) with an army led by Demetrius I of Bactria. Alexandria became a capital of the Eucratidian Indo-Greek Kingdom after they were driven out of Bactria by the Yuezhi in 140 BC.<br/><br/> Bagram (Kapisa) became the summer capital of the Kushan Empire in the 1st century, whereas their winter capital was in Peshawar. The emperor Kanishka started many new buildings there. The central palace building yielded a very rich treasure, dated from the time of emperor Kanishka in the 2nd century: ivory-plated stools of Indian origin, lacquered boxes from Han China, Greco-Roman glasses from Egypt and Syria, Hellenistic statues in the Pompeian style, stucco moldings, and silverware of Mediterranean origin.<br/><br/> The 'Bagram treasure' is indicative of intense commercial exchanges between all the cultural centers of Classical times, with the Kushan empire at the junction of the land and sea trade between the east and west. However, the works of art found in Bagram are either purely Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese or Indian, with little indication of the cultural syncretism found in Greco-Buddhist art.
A drawing from 'The Graphic', London, January 16 1892. The accompanying text states: 'The chief slave market consists of a large stone building with a verandah. The slaves are generally brought out onto the verandah, where a group of regulars sit smoking their nargilehs and drinking coffee. The slaves are mostly girls from ten to sixteen years of age'.<br/><br/> Drawn by G. Durand from a sketch by Father Oberwalder who, with two nuns, recently escaped from the Mahdists.
Black slaves were imported into the Muslim world from Africa by a number of routes northward across the Sahara desert, and by sea into Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Estimates of the number involved vary greatly but it seems that there may easily have been 10 million, perhaps even twice that number.<br/><br/> Two-thirds of African slaves were female. The males were considered to be troublesome. An uprising of slaves from West Africa, the Zanj, who had been imported into the Tigris-Euphrates delta to reclaim salt marshland through their backbreaking labour, lasted from 869 until 883.<br/><br/> The mortality rate was very high because of the harsh conditions, but the trade was so lucrative that merchants were not deterred by the numbers who died. Harrowing eye witness accounts tell of the vast scale and miserable conditions of the slave trade in Africa. In the 1570s many thousands of black Africans were seen for sale in Cairo on market days. In 1796 a caravan was seen by a British traveller leaving Darfur with 5,000 slaves. Black eunuchs became favoured for the royal harems. Even after Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807, a further 2 million Africans were enslaved by Muslim traders.<br/><br/> (Barnabas Fund, 2007).
Black slaves were imported into the Muslim world from Africa by a number of routes northward across the Sahara desert, and by sea into Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Estimates of the number involved vary greatly but it seems that there may easily have been 10 million, perhaps even twice that number.<br/><br/> Two-thirds of African slaves were female. The males were considered to be troublesome. An uprising of slaves from West Africa, the Zanj, who had been imported into the Tigris-Euphrates delta to reclaim salt marshland through their backbreaking labour, lasted from 869 until 883.<br/><br/> The mortality rate was very high because of the harsh conditions, but the trade was so lucrative that merchants were not deterred by the numbers who died. Harrowing eye witness accounts tell of the vast scale and miserable conditions of the slave trade in Africa. In the 1570s many thousands of black Africans were seen for sale in Cairo on market days. In 1796 a caravan was seen by a British traveller leaving Darfur with 5,000 slaves. Black eunuchs became favoured for the royal harems. Even after Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807, a further 2 million Africans were enslaved by Muslim traders.<br/><br/> (Barnabas Fund, 2007).
Black slaves were imported into the Muslim world from Africa by a number of routes northward across the Sahara desert, and by sea into Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Estimates of the number involved vary greatly but it seems that there may easily have been 10 million, perhaps even twice that number.<br/><br/> Two-thirds of African slaves were female. The males were considered to be troublesome. An uprising of slaves from West Africa, the Zanj, who had been imported into the Tigris-Euphrates delta to reclaim salt marshland through their backbreaking labour, lasted from 869 until 883.<br/><br/> The mortality rate was very high because of the harsh conditions, but the trade was so lucrative that merchants were not deterred by the numbers who died. Harrowing eye witness accounts tell of the vast scale and miserable conditions of the slave trade in Africa. In the 1570s many thousands of black Africans were seen for sale in Cairo on market days. In 1796 a caravan was seen by a British traveller leaving Darfur with 5,000 slaves. Black eunuchs became favoured for the royal harems. Even after Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807, a further 2 million Africans were enslaved by Muslim traders.<br/><br/> (Barnabas Fund, 2007).
The Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to mainland Asia.<br/><br/> In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head. The tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level. Indian elephants reach a shoulder height of between 2 and 3.5 m (6.6 and 11.5 ft), weigh between 2,000 and 5,000 kg (4,400 and 11,000 lb), and have 19 pairs of ribs. Their skin color is lighter than of maximus with smaller patches of depigmentation, but darker than of sumatranus. Females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks.<br/><br/> Indian elephants are native to mainland Asia: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsular, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and China. They inhabit grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.
The Medawala Rajamaha Viharaya or Tempitiya Vihara, north of Kandy is a typical <i>tempath vihara</i>, a small wooden image house or shrine, placed on stilts or piles. The <i>tempath vihara</i> can be regarded as Kandy’s most significant contribution to Buddhist architecture, but there are not many specimen of its kind left.<br/><br/> Some of the frescoes in the Rajamaha Viharaya depict the king and the royal family; but they also depict the everyday life of the commoners, such as a farmer tilling his field with the help of a white bull. One enigmatic painting shows a recumbent Buddha, sleeping safely tucked away behind a mosquito net.<br/><br/> Though the frescoes exhibit all the hallmarks of the 18th century, the original construction of the Raja Mahavihara is said to go back to much earlier times. Despite the artistic merit of the frescoes, the most remarkable single feature in the image house is the small ivory figure of a Buddha. The figure is surrounded by an intricately carved wooden shrine.
Fernão Mendes Pinto (c.1509 — 8 July 1583) was a Portuguese explorer and writer. His exploits are known through the posthumous publication of his memoir Pilgrimage (Portuguese: Peregrinação) in 1614, an autobiographical work the accuracy of which has sometimes been called into question.<br/><br/> In the course of his travels in the Middle and Far East, Pinto visited Ethiopia, the Arabian Sea, China, India, Burma, Siam and Japan. He claimed to have been among the first group of Europeans to visit Japan and initiate the Nanban trade period.
The Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, also called the Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka. The territory consists of two atolls and 27 coral islands, of which two, West Island and Home Island, are inhabited with a total population of approximately 600.<br/><br/> A Scottish merchant seaman named Captain John Clunies-Ross explored the islands in 1825, aiming to settle on them with his family. Alexander Hare, who had taken part in Stamford Raffles' takeover of Java in 1811 landed and settled with his slaves who originated from Indonesia and the Cape of Good Hope. Clunies-Ross returned and set up a compound on South Island consisting of his family and some other settlers. Hare's severely mistreated slaves soon escaped to work under better conditions for Clunies-Ross. The workers were paid in a currency called the Cocos rupee, a currency John Clunies-Ross minted himself that could only be redeemed at the company store. The islands were annexed by the British Empire in 1857 and passed to Australia in 1955.
Zanzibar (from Arabic: زنجبار‎ Zanjibār, from Persian: زنگبار‎ Zangibār'Coast of Blacks'; zangi [black-skinned] + bār [coast]) is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar), and Pemba.<br/><br/> The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City. Its historic centre, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site and is claimed to be the only functioning ancient town in East Africa.<br/><br/> Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia).
Nigeria: An ivory pendant mask depicting the iyoba (queen mother) Idia (16th century), Benin Empire, 16th century.<br/><br/> Idia was the mother of Esigie (r. 1504-1550), the Oba (king) of the Benin Empire. She played a critical part in the rise and reign of her son, being described as a great warrior who fought tirelessly before and during her son's rule.<br/><br/> The Kingdom of Benin, also called the Edo Kingdom and the Benin Empire, was a kingdom in West Africa in what is now southern Nigeria; it is not to be confused with the modern nation of Benin. The Kingdom of Benin's capital was Edo, now known as Benin City in Nigeria's Edo state. The Benin Kingdom was 'one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa', and was formed around the 11th century CE, lasting until its annexation by the British Empire in 1897.
The Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to mainland Asia.<br/><br/> In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head. The tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level. Indian elephants reach a shoulder height of between 2 and 3.5 m (6.6 and 11.5 ft), weigh between 2,000 and 5,000 kg (4,400 and 11,000 lb), and have 19 pairs of ribs. Their skin color is lighter than of maximus with smaller patches of depigmentation, but darker than of sumatranus. Females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks.<br/><br/> Indian elephants are native to mainland Asia: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsular, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and China. They inhabit grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.
Zanzibar (from Arabic: زنجبار‎ Zanjibār, from Persian: زنگبار‎ Zangibār'Coast of Blacks'; zangi [black-skinned] + bār [coast]) is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar), and Pemba.<br/><br/> The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City. Its historic centre, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site and is claimed to be the only functioning ancient town in East Africa.<br/><br/> Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia).
Ivory is a hard, white material, derived from the tusks and teeth of animals, that is used in art or manufacturing. It consists of dentine, a tissue that is similar to bone. It has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, and dominoes.<br/><br/> Elephant ivory has been the most important source, but ivory from many species including the hippopotamus, walrus, pig, mammoth, sperm whale, and narwhal has been used.
Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for centuries with records going back to the 14th century BC. Throughout the colonisation of Africa ivory was removed, often using slaves to carry the tusks, to be used for piano keys, billiard balls and other expressions of exotic wealth.<br/><br/> Ivory hunters were responsible for wiping out elephants in North Africa perhaps about 1,000 years ago, in much of South Africa in the 19th century and most of West Africa by the end of the 20th century. At the peak of the ivory trade, pre 20th century, during the colonisation of Africa, around 800 to 1,000 tonnes of ivory was sent to Europe alone.
The Benin Empire (1440–1897) was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria. It is not to be confused with the modern-day country called Benin (and formerly called Dahomey).
The Benin Empire (1440–1897) was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria. It is not to be confused with the modern-day country called Benin (and formerly called Dahomey).
The Benin Empire (1440–1897) was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria. It is not to be confused with the modern-day country called Benin (and formerly called Dahomey).
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus, Spanish: Al-Ándalus, Portuguese: Al-Andalus) was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (often given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms.<br/><br/> Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms.<br/><br/> Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.
Nimrud is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul in the Nineveh plains in northern Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BCE and 610 BCE.
'The slave party, a long line of manacled men, women, and children, came wending their way round the hill and into the valley, on the side of which the village stood.<br/><br/> The black drivers, armed with muskets, and bedecked with various articles of finery, marched jauntily in the front, middle, and rear of the line; some of them blowing exultant notes out of long tin horns. They seemed to feel that they were doing a very noble thing, and might proudly march with an air of triumph'.
Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for centuries with records going back to the 14th century BC. Throughout the colonisation of Africa ivory was removed, often using slaves to carry the tusks, to be used for piano keys, billiard balls and other expressions of exotic wealth.<br/><br/> Ivory hunters were responsible for wiping out elephants in North Africa perhaps about 1,000 years ago, in much of South Africa in the 19th century and most of West Africa by the end of the 20th century. At the peak of the ivory trade, pre 20th century, during the colonisation of Africa, around 800 to 1,000 tonnes of ivory was sent to Europe alone.
'The porters trudge from sunrise to 10 or 11 a.m., and sometimes, though rarely, they will travel twice a day, resting only during the hours of heat. They work with a will, carrying uncomplainingly huge tusks, some so heavy that they must be lashed to a pole between two men. Their shoulders are often raw with the weight, their feet are sore, and they walk half or wholly naked to save their cloth for displays at home.<br/><br/> They ignore tent or covering, and sleep on the ground; their only supplies are their country’s produce. . . . Those who must consult comfort carry, besides their loads and arms, a hide for bedding, an earthen cooking pot, a stool, a kilindo or bark-box containing cloth and beads, and perhaps a small gourd full of ghee. They sometimes suffer severely from exposure to a climate which forbids long and hard work upon short and hard fare.'
The Benin Empire (1440–1897) was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria. It is not to be confused with the modern-day country called Benin (and formerly called Dahomey).
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus, Spanish: Al-Ándalus, Portuguese: Al-Andalus) was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (often given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms.<br/><br/> Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms.<br/><br/> Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.
This cylindrical pyxis - a kind of casket - was carved in 968 for Prince al-Mughira (son of the deceased Caliph Abd al-Rahman III and half-brother of the reigning Caliph al-Hakam). It is the finest example of the luxury ivory objects made for the members of the court of Madinat al-Zahra (the caliph's residence and city of government, established near Cordoba in 936).<br/><br/> Its four richly-decorated medallions are linked by borders of delicately pierced foliage, and this composition is reflected on the lid, whose medallions feature peacocks, falcons, lions, and a rider. There are four scenes on the body of the box. In one of these, a lutanist is flanked by two cross-legged figures who look at each other rather suspiciously.<br/><br/> One holds a fan, the other a bottle (an emblem often associated with the king), and a braided vegetal scepter of the kind used by the Umayyad Dynasty. The other images, such as that of a bull attacked by a lion, are all doubled. Some curious little scenes show back-to-back figures stealing eggs from falcons' nests, with dogs biting their ankles, and the final medallion portrays riders picking bunches of dates.
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as elephants, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory is little used today, but has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and billiard balls. Elephant ivory has been the most important source, but ivory from many species including the hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth and narwhal has been used. The word ultimately derives from the Ancient Egyptian âb, âbu &quot;elephant&quot;.