Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach

dc.contributor.authorCoutu, Ashley Nen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLee-Thorp, Juliaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorCollins, Matthew Jen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLane, Paul Jen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-31T07:40:04Z
dc.date.available2016-10-31T07:40:04Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractEast African elephants have been hunted for their ivory for millennia but the nineteenth century witnessed strongly escalating demand from Europe and North America. It has been suggested that one consequence was that by the 1880s elephant herds along the coast had become scarce, and to meet demand, trade caravans trekked farther into interior regions of East Africa, extending the extraction frontier. The steady decimation of elephant populations coupled with the extension of trade networks have also been claimed to have triggered significant ecological and socio-economic changes that left lasting legacies across the region. To explore the feasibility of using an isotopic approach to uncover a 'moving frontier' of elephant extraction, we constructed a baseline isotope data set (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 18 O and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) for historic East African elephants known to have come from three distinct regions (coastal, Rift Valley, and inland Lakes). Using the isotope results with other climate data and geographical mapping tools, it was possible to characterise elephants from different habitats across the region. This baseline data set was then used to provenance elephant ivory of unknown geographical provenance that was exported from East Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to determine its likely origin. This produced a better understanding of historic elephant geography in the region, and the data have the potential to be used to provenance older archaeological ivories, and to inform contemporary elephant conservation strategies.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationCoutu, A. N., Lee-Thorp, J., Collins, M. J., & Lane, P. J. (2016). Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach. <i>PLoS One</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22368en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationCoutu, Ashley N, Julia Lee-Thorp, Matthew J Collins, and Paul J Lane "Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach." <i>PLoS One</i> (2016) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22368en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationCoutu, A. N., Lee-Thorp, J., Collins, M. J., & Lane, P. J. (2016). Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach. PloS one, 11(10), e0163606. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0163606en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Coutu, Ashley N AU - Lee-Thorp, Julia AU - Collins, Matthew J AU - Lane, Paul J AB - East African elephants have been hunted for their ivory for millennia but the nineteenth century witnessed strongly escalating demand from Europe and North America. It has been suggested that one consequence was that by the 1880s elephant herds along the coast had become scarce, and to meet demand, trade caravans trekked farther into interior regions of East Africa, extending the extraction frontier. The steady decimation of elephant populations coupled with the extension of trade networks have also been claimed to have triggered significant ecological and socio-economic changes that left lasting legacies across the region. To explore the feasibility of using an isotopic approach to uncover a 'moving frontier' of elephant extraction, we constructed a baseline isotope data set (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 18 O and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) for historic East African elephants known to have come from three distinct regions (coastal, Rift Valley, and inland Lakes). Using the isotope results with other climate data and geographical mapping tools, it was possible to characterise elephants from different habitats across the region. This baseline data set was then used to provenance elephant ivory of unknown geographical provenance that was exported from East Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to determine its likely origin. This produced a better understanding of historic elephant geography in the region, and the data have the potential to be used to provenance older archaeological ivories, and to inform contemporary elephant conservation strategies. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0163606 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - PLoS One LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach TI - Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22368 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163606en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/22368
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationCoutu AN, Lee-Thorp J, Collins MJ, Lane PJ. Mapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approach. PLoS One. 2016; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22368.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Archaeologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_ZA
dc.rights.holder© 2016 Coutu et alen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePLoS Oneen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosoneen_ZA
dc.subject.otherElephantsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherForestsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherIsotopesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherAfricaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherGeologyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherGrasslandsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherIsotope analysisen_ZA
dc.subject.otherTanzaniaen_ZA
dc.titleMapping the elephants of the 19th century East African ivory trade with a multi-isotope approachen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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