The Identification of Dugong Ivory Reel Artefacts from Strontium Content and Microstructure

A series of reel necklace units were found in an archaeological site on Taumako, a Polynesian Outlier in the Solomon Islands, and are dated to about A.D.1500. The grinding and shaping of these reels during manufacture has obscured most of the gross a natomical features that might aid the identificati on of the original type of tooth ivory. A comparative study by means of scanning electron microscopy of samples of ivory from nine species of animals revealed that most of the artefacts had features most compatible with the marine sea cow Dugong dugon. The strontium/ calcium ratios of dugong ivory, asdetennined by energy dispersive X-f"ay flu orescence analysis, was about three times that of other animals. Most of the artefacts appeared to be made from the upper central incisors of juvenile dugong, while a single large reel was almost certainly made from spenn whale ivory.