Natural History - Mammoth Tusk Section Group

Nickel-iron meteorite (IAB); supplied in a carboard specimen tray with information ticket. 70 grams, 46 mm



From Chaco Province, Argentina, found 1576. From an old Bristol collection.

A crater field of roughly 26 craters was found in the vicinity of this crater, which is estimated to date to 4-5 thousand years BP. The age of the meteorite itself is thought to be c.4.5 billion years, formed as part of the development of this solar system. The largest two fragments, the 30.8 ton Gancedo and 28.8 ton El Chaco, are among the heaviest meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth. In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a large mass of iron, which it was believed the local people claimed had fallen from the sky and which they used for their weapon production. The expedition discovered a large mass of metal which was assumed to be an iron mine and brought back a few samples, which were described as being of unusual purity. Following the legends, in 1774 Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna rediscovered the iron mass. He himself did not believe that the stone had fallen from the sky and assumed that it had formed by a volcanic eruption. However, he sent the samples to the Royal Society of London. In 1990 it became protected by law.

From Coelodonta antiquitatis, comprising the upper part of the skull from the frontal bone to the top of the nasal bone. 4.85 kg, 68 cm



Found Oxfordshire, UK, clay pits. Acquired from Peter Lawrance, Cotswolds, UK, in 2002. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman.

The form of the woolly rhino’s skull and teeth had evolved to support its grazing lifestyle with its head dipped downwards towards the ground, even in its relaxed attitude. The skull is unusual in having both an extensively ossified nasal septum, probably evolved as a result of the heavy pressure on the horn and face when grazing, and a down-turned anterior region on the premaxilla that contacts the edge of the upper jaw. The shoulders were raised with a powerful hump, used to support the animal's massive front horn and also used for storing fat.

Comprising a rectangular section of the outer layer of Mammoth primigenius tusk with attractive patterning. 34 grams, 10 cm



From the North Sea. From an old Bristol, UK, collection.