Greenland Norse walrus exploitation deep into the Arctic.

ABSTRACT: Walrus ivory was a prized commodity in medieval Europe and was supplied by Norse intermediaries who expanded across the North Atlantic, establishing settlements in Iceland and Greenland. However, the precise sources of the traded ivory have long remained unclear, raising important questions about the sustainability of commercial walrus harvesting, the extent to which Greenland Norse were able to continue mounting their own long-range hunting expeditions, and the degree to which they relied on trading ivory with the various Arctic Indigenous peoples that they were starting to encounter. We use high-resolution genomic sourcing methods to track walrus artifacts back to specific hunting grounds, demonstrating that Greenland Norse obtained ivory from High Arctic waters, especially the North Wat

SUBMITTER: Ruiz-Puerta EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11430631 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature