The straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is an extinct species of elephant that lived throughout Europe and Asia between 1.5 million and 100,000 years ago. The animal stood up to 4 m (13 feet) tall and weighed as much as 13 tons, more than twice the weight of today’s largest elephants.

The 500,000-year-old tusk of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

The exceptionally well-preserved tusk of the straight-tusked elephants was found near Kibbutz Revadim in southern Israel.

The specimen is approximately 2.5 m (8.2 feet) long and is at least 500,000 years old.

“The tusk belongs to the straight-tusked elephant species, known from only a few sites,” said Dr. Lee Perry-Gal, an archaeozoologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

“The species appeared in our region about 800,000 years ago, and 400,000 years ago, it became extinct.”

“It was a gigantic elephant, larger than the present-day African elephant.”

“The fossilized tusk is extremely fragile, and it is likely to disintegrate when exposed to the air and sunlight and human touch,” added Professor Israel Hershkovitz, a researcher with the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory at Tel Aviv University.

“From our previous archaeological excavations at Revadim, we knew that the site was settled in the Late Lower Paleolithic period, as stone and flint tools, as well as animal bone, remains — including elephants — were retrieved but finding this half a million-year-old complete elephant tusk in such a good condition is something else,” said IAA archaeologist Dr. Avi Levy.

This is the largest complete fossil tusk ever found at a prehistoric site in Israel or the Near East.

Reconstructed life appearance of the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus in (top) side and (bottom) frontal view, based on remains uncovered from the Neumark-Nord 1 site in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Image credit: Hsu Shu-yu.

“In the archaeological excavations that we conducted here several years ago, we found some elephant bones (skull parts, ribs, and teeth), and flint artifacts, such as flake tools, hand-axes, and chopping tools used in processing animal flesh,” said Ben-Gurion University’s Professor Ofer Marder and IAA’s Dr. Ianir Milevski.

“The discovery of the tusk, detached from the skull and the rest of the body, raises questions: Is the tusk the remains of a hunted elephant, or was it collected by the local prehistoric inhabitants? Did the tusk have social or spiritual significance?”

Previous ethnographic studies revealed that a large group of prehistoric people hunted elephants in the area.

“The concentration of the material remains — mostly stone tools — in the current excavation and at the entire site indicates that there was a substantial number of people at the site in one period of time and that elephants were hunted,” said Professor Hershkovitz and IAA’s Dr. Omry Barzilai.

“In the hot, dry climate in our region, elephant’s meat could not stay fresh for long, so it must have been consumed quickly by many people, probably as part of a communal event.”