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Greenland Norse walrus exploitation deep into the Arctic
Section for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5-7, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.;Arctic Centre and Groningen Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, PO Box 716, NL-9700 AS Groningen, Netherlands..ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0129-9417
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Helgonavägen 3, 223 62 Lund, Sweden..ORCID iD: 0009-0000-8910-8736
Section for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5-7, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark..ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9695-6060
Palaeobiology Section, Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4, Canada..ORCID iD: 0009-0008-8211-7881
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2024 (English)In: Science Advances, E-ISSN 2375-2548, Vol. 10, no 39Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

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 Water Polynya, and possibly from the interior Canadian Arctic. These results substantially expand the assumed range of Greenland Norse ivory harvesting activities and support intriguing archaeological evidence for substantive interactions with Thule Inuit, plus possible encounters with Tuniit (Late Dorset Pre-Inuit).

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. Vol. 10, no 39
National Category
Archaeology
Research subject
Man and the environment
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URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-5667DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adq4127OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-5667DiVA, id: diva2:1908689
Available from: 2024-10-28 Created: 2024-10-28 Last updated: 2025-09-12Bibliographically approved

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Ruiz-Puerta, Emily J.Jarrett, GreerMcCarthy, Morgan L.Pan, Shyong EnKeighley, XéniaAiken, MagieZampirolo, GiuliaLoonen, Maarten J. J. E.Gotfredsen, Anne BirgitteHowse, Lesley R.Szpak, PaulPálsson, SnæbjörnRufolo, ScottMalmquist, Hilmar J.Desjardins, Sean P. A.Olsen, Morten TangeJordan, Peter D.
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