Mammoth Ivory – Necklace

For hundreds of thousands of years, the woolly, northern or Siberian mammoths, were inhabiting the vast permafrost plains of the Arctic. Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0°C (32°F) for two or more years. It is formed from ice holding various types of soil, sand, and rock in combination. The extremely cold Siberian climate coupled with permafrost provide the best conditions for excellent preservation of the species’s remnants such as bones, carcasses, molars and tusks.

The excellent climatic conditions of Siberia for the preservation of mammoth ivory are not to be interpreted as a guarantee that mammoth tusks are always discovered in good condition or as whole pieces. Recovering whole mammoth tusks in top-quality condition is a rarity. Discovering a mammoth tusk pair which belonged to the same animal is literally like finding a needle in a giant haystack.