Tag: Regulations

Stephanie Hornbeck wrapped up the morning OSG session with her talk, “Ivory: Recent Advances in its Identification and Stringent Regulation.” She set the stage by noting how international and U.S. laws were strengthened in 2014 to combat the rise in ivory trafficking, drawing the connection to conservators since we may be involved in the identification and sampling of ivory materials. It is important for us to be aware of the methods to identify ivory and of the new regulations that apply to it.
Stephanie presented some history about ivory and its use, including a detailed description on what ivory is and how it is formed. Stephanie carefully outlined the diagnostic features for identifying different types of ivory and included a host of images to illustrate her points along the way. Some excellent resources to help with this include Stephanie’s web article for the National Museum of African Art and the Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) website, including this page on identification. A point that Stephanie drove home is how critical it is to have comparative data when attempting to identify and unknown specimen. Photographs of morphological features and known reference material are essential tools to use. An additional aid is the use of UV light as a screening tool to classify the unknown as animal versus vegetal or synthetic. Animal ivories will fluoresce blue-white due to the presence of apatite, while other materials are likely to absorb or produce yellow or orange. Stephanie reminded the audience that the presence of Schreger lines is indicative of Proboscidean ivory, and the angle of the lines can help distinguish between mammoth and mastodon versus elephant. However, she also pointed out that the angle of the lines is variable depending on where along the tusk the lines are being examined. Beyond these visual tests, Stephanie also outlined analytical methods that require sampling. These included FTIR and DNA for identification, as well as isotope analysis, bomb-curve radiocarbon analysis, and the potential of measuring water ad/absorption as methods for possible dating.

 
From here, Stephanie shifted gears to talk about the ivory trade and new international, federal, and state regulations. She pointed out that the US is the second largest consumer of ivory behind China and that the ivory trade is often a cover for other illicit trade. Although ivory was already a highly regulated material since the 1976 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), these facts, along with the rapidly diminishing population levels of the elephant due to rampant poaching, have led to newer, tighter regulations. After an outline of the various laws and regulation that affect ivory, Stephanie explained that it is now illegal to buy or sell ivory of any age. Only well documented works that can prove a date of more than 100 years and ownership before 1977 can enter the US. The new requirements ask for species-specific identification and specific dating. These regulations are problematic because identifying and dating artifacts to those levels is difficult, if not impossible. The FWS has provided useful information on the new regulations here.

 
Because of time constraints, Stephanie was not able to fully delve into the implications for traveling exhibitions. She skipped over a case study in which documented ancient ivories owned by the Bolton Museum in Bolton, England were delayed at the Miami International Airport for four days in a tropical environment where climate controls were unknown. Following the new 2014 regulations, the local FWS agent wanted species specific identification of the ancient ivories, which was not readily proven in the existing documentation. That level of identification is also not possible to obtain without destructive analysis. Although ancient worked ivories should have been allowed as part of a traveling exhibition, and CITES permits were provided, the entry into the US was nevertheless delayed at great risk to cultural artifacts. For this reason, coupled with her long-standing research interest in ivory, Stephanie has joined a sub-committee to help develop an AIC position paper on the subject.
N.B.  For information on the changes in regulations download: Hornbeck, S. 2016. “Ivory: identification and regulation of a precious material”. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.  available via the AIC wiki.