Wild Boar Tusk May Have Been Medieval Talisman

NOVGOROD, RUSSIA—According to a Live Science report, a piece of a large wild boar's tusk adorned with an engraved metal cap has been uncovered in northwestern Russia, in an area of the city of Veliky Novgorod that was inhabited by wealthy individuals during the medieval period. The tusk has been dated to the mid-twelfth to early thirteenth century, and is thought to have been a hunting trophy carried by a warrior or noble as a good luck charm. “It’s extraordinary because of its size. It’s extremely big,” said Natalia Eniosova of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The surviving section of the tusk measures almost four inches long and more than one inch across. Eniosova and her colleagues estimate that the tusk came from a boar that weighed more than 220 pounds. Analysis revealed that the cap was made of a tin-lead alloy. Eniosova explained that this soft material was rare at the time and would have been difficult to engrave. The missing part of the tusk may have been drilled with a hole so that it could be worn, she concluded. To read about a birchbark letter recovered near the Kremlin in Moscow, go to "Medieval Russian Memo."