[Aaron Henkin] Hi. Aaron Henkin here with Pierre Larson, professor of African history at Johns Hopkins University, and Professor Larson, this carving is so elaborate to me. It seems like there's a story scrolling around this. [Pierre Larson] It certainly does look like that. If you start at the top, it just sort of spirals to the bottom more. If you want to start at the bottom, it spirals toward the top with one person after the other following each other. They appear to come from different classes. Some of them are laborers. Others in European clothing appear more wealthy, conversing with each other. Many of them are carrying things on their heads. Some are carrying tusks, and this ivory is an elephant tusk. It appears to some extent that this is a representation of the caravan trade that brought ivory from the interior of Africa for the coastline. [Aaron Henkin] What exactly do you mean by a caravan? [Pierre Larson] The caravans were essentially groups of people who carried things from one part of Africa to another because that was the main form of transport. Whether they be in caravans, marching through the rural areas or in the towns and cities, you would find different kinds of people together.

[Pierre Larson] Elephant hunting has been going on in Africa for a very long time. The ivory that we see in front of us is a representation of that. [Aaron Henkin] It was the growing European demand for ivory that led to the decimation of the African elephant population [Pierre Larson] That continues today, but it continues on a scale that is far greater than in the past. That's why taking ivory out of Africa is illegal. This piece, however, was made and brought out of Africa well before there were legal prohibitions on the export of ivory.