A sudden increase in the production of elephant ivory artifacts on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa occurred in the tenth century
Historians explain this increase as the result of an area opening up as a new source of ivory and argue on this basis that the important medieval trade between North Africa and East Africa began at this period
East African carvings in a style characteristic of the tenth century depict seagoing vessels very different from those used by local sailors but of a type common in the Mediterranean.