In 1489 an embassy of Mwene Kongo arrives in Portugal. The African sovereign dignitaries made delivery of the gifts brought to the King of Portugal: beyond the raffia cloths, according to the chronicler Rui de Pina, there was also some elephant tusks and "other ivory things" whose brightness strongly impressed the chronicler. On the occasion, the ambassador would have expressed interest of his sovereign in the Christian faith, and in the further development of the relationship between Portugal and the Kongo.

From the outset, ivory and the christian faith were central elements in the complex dialogue between european and central african cultural worlds, as insignia of power, markers of social prestige, intermediaries convening spiritual forces or simply commodities traded. However, at least for the region in question, the map of connections and mutual influences between African artistic production in ivory and the cultural dialogue between Christianity and African cosmologies is fundamentally to be drawn. In this communication, a set of doubts and questions are tested that could guide a research around the place of the ivory in the context of cultural communication between Kongo and Europe.

The carved objects known as Sapi-Portuguese ivories (16th-17th centuries) were the product of ongoing contacts and intensive exchanges from the mid- fifteenth century. The circulation of people, merchandise and ideas, sharing of experiences, as well as languages between Africans and Europeans meant that the spaces of exchange constituted a cosmopolitan environment. How far were there changes in the perception of ivory as raw material, as well as in carving? Did ivory get a new role? This paper discusses what could have been the perspective of the African elephant hunters and ivory carvers concerning an apparent double oxymoron: in the one hand, the compatibility between a ritualized activity (elephants\ hunting) and in some societies a ritualized contact with ivory tusks and trade in a market commodity; on the other hand, the compatibility between the production of objects in ivory with spiritual power and the foreign consumption of these carvings, far from any African ritual control. The paper argues that an eventual compatibility might be found in the representations of the power associated with Europeans, including Luso-Africans. The interpretation of these representations should be based on the context of religious interactions with the Europeans. The way the latter were integrated in the African world within which the ivory objects were carved may help explain the form that these objects took and the meaning they are intended to express.

The research on Luso-African ivories is still in its early days. The main questions on the manufacture of the artefacts continue unanswered, as its geographical region - that is unknown or debatable for most objects. The circulation of objects, artists, techniques and materials turn the task of characterization of objects even harder. Also, the production of carved ivories and the organization of artisans in Africa are difficult to understand and characterize. As happen in various works of art of the same chronology, the attribution of a specific date or even a time frame is problematic.

All the objects of art are, in a way, luxury items. And the ivory objects are no exception. They were ordered by a patron that aimed to convey a certain image of himself, his genealogy, his territories, his wealth. Also, those items had a certain message or symbolism that need to be read and interpreted.

Within the acknowledge group of Luso-African ivories there is an important number that shows carved portraits of full or partially armed soldiers. In a military perspective, a specific study of the weaponry displayed in these ivory items could be crucial to characterize the typologies of arms and armours used. But this research will contribute as well to a deeper query on Luso-African ivories, namely the question about the characters displayed in the artefacts (Portuguese or African fighters?); to understand the symbolic power of images through weapons (as happen with the handguns); to comprehend the circulation of objects within Africa and Europe; or even to recognize provenances and chronologies.

Research conducted over the last decade reveals that the traditional concept of Afro-Portuguese ivories, and associated theories, had several epistemological flaws, which precluded an accurate perception of the chronology of African ivories, and also affected the study of geographical origins and cultural meanings.

This communication will present the first analytical results of a new project that combines archival and historical research with laboratorial analysis aiming to reassess Luso-African ivories in the context of African carved ivories and raw material throughout the Atlantic world between c.1500 and c.1800.

Several museum pieces as well as new ivory tusks were analysed using a methodology that combines microanalysis, isotopic analysis and DNA analysis.

The analysis by high resolution micro-imaging, 3d laser scanning, optical microscopy and variable pressure scanning electron microscopy allowed identification of tool marks and microfeatures while isotopic analysis by IR-MS and ICP-MS allowed to further ascertain ivory provenance. These results were complemented by analysis by next generation sequencing to source ivory and explore population genetics.

Humans have used ivory as a raw material for crafting objects for millennia. During the 16th century a considerable amount of elephant and hippopotamus ivory was procured and traded from Africa, and moved over long distances as part of Portuguese sea voyages around the globe. This external demand for ivory fed into pre-existing internal trade networks and in some localities also triggered changes to indigenous ivory working practices and spheres of meaning. Whereas the intricately worked finished ivory products (such as Luso-African oliphants) of these commodity networks have received considerable scholarly attention, much less is known about the precise source of this ivory, its global distribution, or about other coeval ivory working practices. This paper begins with a review of the available archaeological evidence regarding these topics, with a focus on West African contexts and global shipwreck data. We then focus on the evidence from a Portuguese nau wrecked off southern Namibia circa 1530, and the results of ongoing bioarchaeological analyses of the ivory tusks it was carrying. Historical sources suggest a number of possible routes for the voyage of this vessel. Using bioarchaeoogical methods (ancient DNA and stable isotope analyses), it is possible to also source the artefacts directly, thus highlighting African trade networks in the 16th century. The combination of the two techniques within a historical context therefore provides separate but complementary lines of evidence for understanding where ivory extraction occurred, revealing the expansive network of ivory procurement for uses such as carving the Luso-African ivories.