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The elephant in the room

Mapping the Footsteps of Historic Elephants With Big Game Hunting Collections

Bibliographic Data

ID3919911
AuthorsAshley N Coutu (0000-0002-5007-6914, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5YW, UK, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume47
Issue3
Pages486-503
Publication date2015-05-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438243.2015.1016184
OpenAlexW2001090650
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited68

This article examines the artefacts of big game hunting in female elephants from East Africa, natural history collections of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A contextual object biography approach is utilized to analyse the life histories of these specimens through the use of archival and isotopic evidence. Emphasis is placed on the example of an elephant shot on Mt Elgon, Kenya, in 1902, parts of which were preserved and shipped to England for curation and display in the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent. The results of isotopic analyses on some of the remains reveal a life history that has implications for developing conservation strategies for modern elephant populations in the region and contribute baseline data critical for interpreting the isotopic signatures of ancient ivory believed to have been exported from eastern Africa

Archaeology · Art history · Big game · Biography · Biology · Environmental protection · Geography · Natural history · Shot (pellet · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · History · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

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Unique citing works8
Citations per year0,8
Citation span2016 - 2025 (10)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 8

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