Woolly Mammoth Skull | 真猛獁象頭骨

Discovered in Siberia, Russia ca 2018;

Lithuanian dealer, acquired from the above, 2020;

Dealer in the Netherlands, acquired from the above, 2020;

American Collection, acquired from the above, 2021

於2018年在俄羅斯西伯利亞發現

2020年被立陶宛買家購入

同年荷蘭買家從上述買家購入

2021年為美國收藏家從上述買家購入

The Woolly Mammoth is an extinct species of Elephantidae that has been depicted on numerous cave walls and in hand carved effigies made by Paleolithic man. Many archeological sites throughout Eurasia and North America have established the close relationship between the Woolly Mammoth ancient human hunters.

The Mammoth's popularity as an Ice Age icon is unequaled, and have been a familiar image since the Victorian times. Mammoth skulls, skeletons, including mummified frozen remains are featured in numerous public museum exhibits around the world. In life, the mammoth’s body was covered with long hair and thick body fat, and the elongated curved tusks were used as a snowplow to uncover buried vegetation, marking some of the distinguishing features of a hyper-polar adaptation needed for mammoths to exist in arctic conditions.

The Cyclops monster from ancient Greek and Roman mythology may have had its origins in the encountering of fossil mammoth skull, as the large opening in the middle of the skull, which is actually the nasal cavity for the trunk, may have been misinterpreted as a single eye socket.

The present specimen is distinguished by the striking blue and blue-green colors swirled in the tusks, the result of the skull having fossilized in soil containing the mineral Vivianite. Vivianite, named for John Henry Vivian, the mineralogist who discovered it in 1817 in England, is a rare phosphate mineral, often found growing on iron-rich deposits with organic materials, including decomposed bodies. In order for Vivianite to form, the conditions must be exactly right; the soil must be rich in iron, water must be present in that soil, and most importantly, phosphate must be present. When phosphate, which is present in abundance in the tusks of Woolly Mammoths (as well as human teeth) comes into contact with the iron and water, the mineral Vivianite is formed, which, during the fossilization process, slowly replaces the original tusk material.

真猛獁象屬已滅絕象科物種，曾出現在不少洞穴壁畫上及由舊石器時代人類製作的手工雕像中。歐亞和北美的許多考古遺址均證實真猛獁象與古代獵人之間存在密切關係。

猛獁象作為冰河時代的標誌，受歡迎程度無與倫比，自維多利亞時代以來人類對其形象可謂耳熟能詳。猛獁象的頭骨、骸骨，包括已乾枯的冰封遺骸等，皆可見於世界各地眾多公共博物館中。實際上，猛獁象的身體為長毛和厚厚脂肪所覆蓋，常以其彎曲獠牙作鏟雪之用，掘出埋藏土下的植被，是猛獁象為適應極地條件生存的特徵之一。

古希臘及古羅馬神話中的獨眼巨人賽克洛普斯可能起源於猛獁象頭骨化石，因其頭顱中央的大孔實際上是象鼻的鼻腔，有可能被誤解為單眼窩。

本象牙頭骨在含有藍鐵礦的土壤中石化而成，故象牙出現引人注目、獨一無二的藍色和藍綠色漩渦紋。藍鐵礦是稀有磷酸鹽礦物，為紀念於1817年在英國發現此礦物的礦物學家約翰・亨利・維維安而命名。此礦物通常在含有豐富鐵質的有機沉積物上生長，包括已分解的生物體。要形成藍鐵礦，必須具備特定條件：土壤必須富含鐵和水，最重要是必須有磷酸鹽。真猛獁象象牙以及人類牙齒均含有大量磷酸鹽。當磷酸鹽與鐵和水接觸時，藍鐵礦就會形成，而在石化過程中，藍鐵礦會慢慢取代原有象牙的材質。

LITERATURE

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• Yin Z.-w.; Luo Q.-f.; Zheng C.; Bao D.-q.; Li X.-l.; Li Y.-l.; Chen Q.-l. "The spectrum characteristic analysis of mammoth ivory." Spectrosc. Spectral Anal. 2013, 33, 2338–2342. 10.3964/j.issn.1000-0593(2013)09-2338-05
• Papageorgopoulou C.; Link K.; Rühli F. J. "Histology of a Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) Preserved in Permafrost, Yamal Peninsula, Northwest Siberia." Anat. Rec. 2015, 298, 1059–1071. 10.1002/ar.23148
• Zangarini S.; Trombino L.; Cattaneo C. "Micromorphological and ultramicroscopic aspects of buried remains: Time-dependent markers of decomposition and permanence in soil in experimental burial." Forensic Sci. Int. 2016, 263, 74–82. 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.03.052