Adams Mammoth - Cultural Significance

Cultural Significance

Indigenous peoples of Siberia had long found what are now known to be woolly mammoth remains, collecting their tusks for the ivory trade. Native Siberians believed woolly mammoth remains to be those of giant mole-like animals that lived underground and died when burrowing to the surface. During the 17th century, reports of these finds would occasionally reach Europe. The first published reports of Siberian mammoth remains appeared in Europe in the 1690s. Woolly mammoth tusks had been articles of trade in China, Mongolia and Iran long before Europeans became acquainted with them. Güyük, the 13th century Khan of the Mongols, is reputed to have sat on a throne made from mammoth ivory. They have been and are still a highly prized commodity, and even today it is in great demand as a replacement for the now-banned export of elephant ivory.

Legends from dozens of Native American tribes have been interpreted by some as indicative of Proboscidea. One example is from the Kaska tribe from northern British Columbia; in 1917 an ethnologist recorded their tradition of:

A very large kind of animal which roamed the country a long time ago. It corresponded somewhat to white men's pictures of elephants. It was of huge size, in build like an elephant, had tusks, and was hairy. These animals were seen not so very long ago, it is said, generally singly, but none have been seen now for several generations. Indians come across their bones occasionally. The narrator said he and some others, a few years ago, came on a shoulder-blade... as wide as a table (about three feet).

However, the animal in this story was predatory and carnivorous, suggesting that any extant legends concerning proboscideans had become conflated with those of other megafauna, such as bears and sabertooths.

Thomas Jefferson (who famously had a keen interest in paleontology) is also partially responsible for transforming the word mammoth from a noun describing the prehistoric elephant to an adjective describing anything amazingly large. The first recorded use of the word as an adjective was in a description of a large wheel of cheese given to Jefferson as a gift.