News Archaeology

Ivory from a 16th century shipwreck reveals new details about African elephants

Dozens of tusks from a sunken Portuguese trading ship have now been analyzed

African elephant with trunk in air

In 1533, a Portuguese trading ship dubbed the Bom Jesus went missing. Today, its recovered ivory cargo is answering questions about African elephants (one pictured).

Nicholas Georgiadis

By Maria Temming

- More than 2 years ago

In 2008, miners off the coast of Namibia stumbled upon buried treasure: a sunken Portuguese ship known as the Bom Jesus, which went missing on its way to India in 1533.