Schreger pattern analysis of Mammuthus primigenius tusk: analytical approach and utility

 

Authors: Ábelová M

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 83, issue 2; pages: 225 - 232; Received 9 May 2007; Accepted in revised form 4 March 2008;

Keywords: Schreger pattern, Mammuthus primigenius, tusks, microscopic study, histology, vertebrate palaeontology,

full text (PDF, 1.26 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

Analyses of the characteristic structural Schreger pattern in the dentine of tusks of numerous fossil proboscidean Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799) from five Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian) Moravian localities (35-25 cal. ka BP) [Předmostí, Pavlov, Dolní Věstonice, Milovice and Napajedla] and one Würmian Croatian locality Viljevacki cret (Donji Miholjac) reveal the microstructure within the dentine. Values of the Schreger angles, the qualitative appearance of the pattern, and the wavelengths in transverse and longitudinal sections of the tusks were determined showing that Schreger angles can reach around 25-40° near the pulp cavity, begin to increase towards the tusk surface (cement-dentine junction - CDJ), and reach a maximum of around 125°. Wavelengths reach maximal values of around 2,175 µm at low Schreger angles, towards the tusk surface becoming shorter and measuring around 1,100 µm. The qualitative pattern appearance depends mainly on the Schreger angle with a so-called ‘V’ pattern occurring at low angles, that is between 25-70°. At a maximal angle value (approximately from 80° to 125°) the so-called ‘C’ pattern occurs near the tusk surface. An ‘X’ pattern occurs with angle values around 70-80° lying between ‘V’ and ‘C’ patterns.

References

Abramova, Z.A., Grigorieva, G.V. & Zaitsev, G.I. 2001. The age of Upper Paleolithic sites in the Middle Dnieper River Basin of Eastern Europe. Radiocarbon 43, 1077–1084.View article

Blumenbach, J.F. 1799. D.J.F. Blumenbach’s Handbuch der Naturgeschichte. 6th edition. 708 pp. Dieterich, Göttingen.

Brody, R.H., Edwards, H.G.M. & Pollard, A.M. 2001. Chemometric methods applied to the differentiation of Fouriertransform Raman spectra of ivories. Analytica Chimica Acta 427, 223–232.View article

Debeljak, I. 1996. A simple preparation technique of cave bear teeth for age determination by cementum increments. Revue de Paléobiologie, Geneve 15(1), 105–108.

Edwards, H.G.M., Farwell, D.W., Holder, J.M. & Lawson, E.E. 1997. Fourier-transform Raman spectroscopy of ivory: III. Identification of mammalian specimens. Spectrochimica Acta Part A 53, 2403–2409.View article

Espinoza, E.O. & Mann, M.J. 1991. Identification guide for ivory and ivory substitutes. 2nd edition. 38 pp. World Wildlife Fund and Conservation Foundation, Baltimore.

Espinoza, E.O. & Mann, M.J. 1993. The history and significance of the Schreger pattern in proboscidean ivory characterization. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 32, 241–248.View article

Fisher, D.C. 2001. Season of death, growth rates, and life history of North American mammoths, 121–135. In West, D. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Mammoth Site Studies. Publications on Anthropology 22. University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Fisher, D.C., Trapani, J., Shoshani, J.&Woodford,M. 1998. The Schreger pattern in mastodon and mammoth tusk dentin. Current Research in the Pleistocene 15, 105–107.

Fox, D.L. 2000. Growth increments in Gomphotherium tusk and implications for late Miocene climate change in North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 156, 327–348.View article

Gelvin-Reymiller, C., Reuther, J.D., Potter, B.A. & Bowers, P.M. 2006. Technical aspects of a worked proboscidean tusk from Inmachuk River, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Journal of Archaeological Science 33, 1088–1094.View article

Halberg, F. 1969. Chronobiology. Annual Review of Physiology 31, 675–725.View article

Halberg, F., Engeli, M., Hamburger, C. & Hillman, D. 1965. Spectral resolution of low-frequency, small-amplitude rhythms in excreted 17-ketosteroids; probable androgen-induced circaseptan desynchronization. Acta Endocrinologica 50(103), 1–54.View article

Herrera, J.C. 1999. Determining the species source of prehistoric ivory. Aucilla River Times 10(1), 17.

Kautenburger, R., Wannemacher, J. & Müller, R. 2004. Multi element analysis by X-ray fluorescence: a powerful tool of ivory identification from various origins. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 260, 399–404.View article

Khlopatchev, G.A. 2001. Mammoth tusk processing using the knapping technique in the Upper Paleolithic of the Central Russian Plain, 444–447. In Cavarretta, G., Gioia, P.,Mussi, V. & Palombo, M.R. (eds) The World of Elephants. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy.

Lambert, W.D. 2005. The microstructure of proboscidean ivory and its application to the subordinal identification of isolated ivory specimens. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 45, 521–530.

Lenardić, J.M. & Poje, M. 1994. Elephant remains and attendant malacological fauna from some localities in Slavonia, Croatia, 41. Neogene and Quaternary Mammals of the Palearctic. Conference in honour of Prof. Kazimierz Kowalski. Krakow, Poland, 17.–21.5. 1994.

Miles, A.E.W. & White, J.W. 1960. Ivory. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 53, 775–780.View article

Oliva, M. 1998. Gravettien východní Moravy. Acta Musei Moraviae 83, 3–65.

Owen, R. 1840–1845. Odontography. 655 pp. Hippolyte Bailliere, London.

Palombo, M.R. & Villa, P. 2001. Schreger lines as support in the Elephantinae identification, 656–660. In Cavarretta, G., Gioia, P.,Mussi, V. & Palombo, M.R. (eds) The World of Elephants. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy.

Prozesky, V.M., Raubenheimer, E.J., Van Heerden, W.F.P., Grotepass, W.P., Przybylowicz, W.J., Pineda, C.A. & Swart, R. 1995. Trace element concentration and distribution in ivory. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 104, 638–644.View article

Raubenheimer, E.J., Bosman, M.C., Vorster, R. & Noffke, C.E. 1998. Histogenesis of the chequered pattern of ivory of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana). Archives of Oral Biology 43, 969–977.View article

Saunders, J.J. 1979. A close look at ivory. The Living Museum, Springfield 41(4), 56–59.

Scheer, A. 2001. The utilisation of mammoth remains as raw material and its importance for the Gravettian people of the German Danube, 455–459. In Cavarretta, G., Gioia, P.,Mussi, V. & Palombo, M.R. (eds) The World of Elephants. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy.

Schreger, B.N.G. 1800. Beitrag zur Geschichte der Zähne. Beitrage für die Ergliederungkunst 1, 1–7.

Shimoyama, M., Maeda, H., Sato, H., Ninomiya, T. & Ozaki, Y. 1997. Nondestructive discrimination of biological materials by near-infrared Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics: discrimination among hard and soft ivories of African elephants and mammoth tusks and prediction of specific gravity of the ivories. Applied Spectroscopy 51, 1154–1158.View article

Shimoyama, M.,Nakanishi, T.,Hamanaga, Y.,Ninomiya, T. &Ozaki, Y. 1998. Non-destructive discrimination between elephant ivory products and mammoth tusk products by glancing incidence X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Journal of Trace and Microprobe Techniques 16, 175–182.

Svoboda, J., Havlíček, P., Ložek, V., Macoun, J., Musil, R., Přichystal, A., Svobodová, H. & Vlček, E. 2002. Paleolit Moravy a Slezska. Dolnověstonické studie 8. 303 pp. Archeologický ústav AV ČR, Brno.

Škrdla, P. 2005. The Upper Paleolithic on the Middle Course of the Morava River. Dolnověstonické studie 13. 229 pp. Archeologický ústav AV ČR, Brno.

Tobien, H. 1978. On the Evolution of mastodonts (Proboscidea, Mammalia). Part 2: The bunodont tetralophodont groups. Geologisches Jahrbuch, Hessen 106, 159–208.

Trapani, J. & Fisher, D.C. 2003. Discriminating proboscidean taxa using features of the Schreger pattern in tusk dentin. Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 429–438.View article

Vasiľev, S.A. 2001. Man and mammoth in Pleistocene Siberia, 363–366. In Cavarretta, G., Gioia, P., Mussi, V. & Palombo, M.R. (eds) The World of Elephants. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy.