Hippopotamus Tusk Fragment (115,000 years old)

3D Model

This fragment of hippo tusk (Hippopotamus amphibius) was found in Victoria Cave, near Settle, providing hard evidence of the species that lived here during Last Interglacial – an Ice Age warm period lasting from 130,000-115,000 years ago.

Found by Victorian archaeologists in 1874, they believed it to be their most important discovery that year.

Hippo will travel considerable distances from their watery habitats in search of suitable grazing, and it is astonishing to realise that they once grazed the Dales… Even more so when you imagine the stand-offs between hippos and hyenas!

Lower canine tusk fragment of Hippopotamus amphibius. Found in the Victoria Cave hyena bone bed covered by a stalagmite dating to 115,000 BP

Archived in the Tot Lord Collection, Yorkshire.

Photography & 3D modelling by Hugh Fiske for DigVentures. Get involved at http://digventures.com