The larger than average, 2.8m from end to tip, mineralised tusk of a male mammoth on display at the Willis Museum Archaeology Gallery under went a lengthy conservation process in 2014.
The mammoth tusk
The larger than average, 2.8m from end to tip, mineralised tusk of a male mammoth on display at the Willis Museum Archaeology Gallery under went a lengthy conservation process in 2014.
The mammoth tusk was found at Lodge Farm, North Warnborough, in 1973, and had previously formed part of the old Willis Archaeology Gallery display. Historic restoration work – well intentioned, but carried out with non-sympathetic materials - had begun to age and fail, causing damage to the remaining original tusk material.
In order to reconserve the tusk, the damaging old fills and surface coating had to be removed. They had been inflexible, and also stronger than the tusk itself. As the tusk had flexed with changes in humidity and temperature, the fills and surface coating had not. This had caused lifting of the surface, and pulling away of small fragments from the edges of the cracks – which were now much larger than before.
Removal of the fills and old coating was carried out using mostly mechanical methods, with some solvent to remove stubborn residues. It was decided to also remove the old painted plaster fill at the tip of the tusk, which actually covered up several inches of original tusk, and had been an aesthetic addition rather than a structural necessity.
The cracks in some cases were very deep, and full of dirt, dust, old fill and loose fragments 