A new study from the University of Utah let researchers figure out how old a tusk is using carbon dating, adding to genetic data about which elephant groups the tusks came from.
By the early twentieth century, carbon dating of Earth rocks and fossils had proven that the Sun was in existence and at temperatures warm enough to sustain life not for thousands of years, but for 3 billion.
By sampling an elephant tusk from a point close to the skull, where the dentin layer is thin, the researchers were able to use carbon dating to measure how long ago the animal died.