The fossil, found during the excavation of La Cotte Cave in St Brelade around 45 years ago, was originally covered in a protective layer of polyurethane foam as it was in such a fragile state.
However, this summer Nigel Larkin, a natural sciences conservator, removed the outer casing to reveal the skull and also carried out repairs so it could be put on display.
Jersey Heritage is now planning to use the relic, along with other items unearthed at La Cotte, in an upcoming exhibition about the work that the organisation and visiting teams of researchers and experts have carried out into Jersey’s Ice Age past over the last few years.
Mr Larkin spent six and a half days at Jersey Heritage’s Sir Francis Cook Gallery working to unpick and re-secure the mammoth skull.
He said: ‘When I came to it the skull was almost completely encased in a polyurethane jacket with just the teeth exposed.
‘Polyurethane is quite a nasty product to use, but is sometimes essential when there’s nothing else to hand. It’s relatively toxic when you’re mixing the two parts together and then when you take it apart, cutting and sawing away using scalpels, it creates a dust that is quite sharp. You don’t want to be breathing it in.
‘For those six and a half days I was mostly cutting small parts away using a succession of scalpels, small knives and keyhole saws.’
Mr Larkin explained that the original excavators who lifted the skull from La Cotte had done a remarkable job in securing the piece and used anything that was to hand, including wood, metal, tissue, bamboo and paper to secure the fragile bone in its casing.
It now sits on a secure Plaster of Paris base created by the conservator, with the mammoths upper teeth on show.
