A CACHE OF HIPPOPOTAMUS IVORY AT GAO, MALI - AND A HYPOTHESIS OF ITS USE

The hippopotamus is a large beast with large teeth - large enough for hippopotamus ivory, then and now, to be a useful alternative to elepha nt ivory (there are both kinds in the Aegean Bronze Age, as well as th e little tusks of wild boar). A newly found cache of hippopotamus ivor y at Gao, medieval city of the south Saharan edge, opens a wider place for the material in contact across the great north African desert.