Acta Musei Moraviae

Microstructure analysis of Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1803) tusks

Twenty seven samples of fossil Mammuthus primigenius tusks from four Upper-palaeolithic Moravian localities (27 000–22 000 BP) [Napajedla (Gravettian), Předmostí (Gravettian), Dolní Věstonice (Gravettian) and Milovice (Gravettian)] and one Würmian Croatian locality (Dolnij Miholjac) were studied in regard to the microstructure analysis of the dentine part. Measurements were taken from the Schreger angles, wavelength of undulating sets of dentinal tubules and qualitative pattern category.

We examined whether these values are changing in the scope of the tusk – from pulp cavity towards tusk surface, how they relate to each other and whether they changed in the course of geological time.

We found out that Schreger angle reaches about 40° near the pulp cavity. The angles increase toward tusk surface and reach maximal values about 110°.

Wave length reaches the maximal values about 2175 μm at low Schreger angles (near the pulp cavity). The length becomes shorter and measures about 1100 μm towards the tusk surface and thereby towards higher values of Schreger angle. Qualitative pattern category depends mainly on Schreger angle. There is so called „V“ pattern at low angle

values and so in the vicinity of the pulp cavity. It is occurring at angle values between 40°–70°. At maximal angle values (approximately from 80° to 110°) near tusk surface there is so called „C“ pattern (from English checkerboard). Between angle values from 70° to 80° and thereby between „V“ and „C“ pattern there is mixed „C/V“ pattern.

We did not find the change of investigated tusk parameters at Mammuthus primigenius on the base of studied samples in the course of geological time.

We studied the tusk samples under cathodoluminiscence. We find out that studied material did not show any luminiscence.