Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra
PUBLISHED [GOLD] The impacts of early ecological globalisation may have had profound economic and environmental consequences for human settlements and animal populations. Here, we review the extent of such historical impacts by investigating the medieval trade of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus)...
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fttrinitycoll:oai:www.tara.tcd.ie:2262/91845 2024-09-15T18:08:54+00:00 Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra Barrett, James Leverhulme Trust Nansenfondet and the Research Council of Norway MRF-2013-065 262777 230821 2020 106 122 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2262/91845 http://people.tcd.ie/barretjh https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122 en eng Quaternary Science Reviews; 229; References https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122. James H. Barrett, Sanne Boessenkool, Catherine J. Kneale, Tamsin C. O’Connell, Bastiaan Star, 'Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra', 2020, Quaternary Science Reviews;, 229; 02773791 Y http://hdl.handle.net/2262/91845 http://people.tcd.ie/barretjh 215022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122 Y openAccess Europe Greenland Ecological globalisation Historical ecology Archaeology Stable isotopes Ancient DNA Middle Ages Smart & Sustainable Planet Journal Article scholarly_publications refereed_publications 2020 fttrinitycoll https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122 2024-08-15T04:52:30Z PUBLISHED [GOLD] The impacts of early ecological globalisation may have had profound economic and environmental consequences for human settlements and animal populations. Here, we review the extent of such historical impacts by investigating the medieval trade of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) ivory. We use an interdisciplinary approach including chaîne opératoire, ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotope and zooarchaeological analysis of walrus rostra (skull sections) to identify their biological source and sub- sequent trade through Indigenous and urban networks. This approach complements and improves the spatial resolution of earlier aDNA observations, and we conclude that almost all medieval European finds of walrus rostra likely derived from Greenland. We further find that shifting urban nodes redistributed the traded ivory and that the latest medieval rostra finds were from smaller, often female, walruses of a distinctive DNA clade, which is especially prevalent in northern Greenland. Our results suggest that more and smaller animals were targeted at increasingly untenable distances, which reflects a classic pattern of resource depletion. We consider how the trade of walrus and elephant ivory intersected, and evaluate the extent to which emergent globalisation and the “resource curse” contributed to the abandonment of Norse Greenland. This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust [MRF-2013-065], United Kingdom; Nansenfondet and the Research Council of Norway [projects 262777 and 230821], Norway. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Odobenus rosmarus walrus* The University of Dublin, Trinity College: TARA (Trinity's Access to Research Archive) Quaternary Science Reviews 229 106122 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Dublin, Trinity College: TARA (Trinity's Access to Research Archive) |
op_collection_id |
fttrinitycoll |
language |
English |
topic |
Europe Greenland Ecological globalisation Historical ecology Archaeology Stable isotopes Ancient DNA Middle Ages Smart & Sustainable Planet |
spellingShingle |
Europe Greenland Ecological globalisation Historical ecology Archaeology Stable isotopes Ancient DNA Middle Ages Smart & Sustainable Planet Barrett, James Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
topic_facet |
Europe Greenland Ecological globalisation Historical ecology Archaeology Stable isotopes Ancient DNA Middle Ages Smart & Sustainable Planet |
description |
PUBLISHED [GOLD] The impacts of early ecological globalisation may have had profound economic and environmental consequences for human settlements and animal populations. Here, we review the extent of such historical impacts by investigating the medieval trade of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) ivory. We use an interdisciplinary approach including chaîne opératoire, ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotope and zooarchaeological analysis of walrus rostra (skull sections) to identify their biological source and sub- sequent trade through Indigenous and urban networks. This approach complements and improves the spatial resolution of earlier aDNA observations, and we conclude that almost all medieval European finds of walrus rostra likely derived from Greenland. We further find that shifting urban nodes redistributed the traded ivory and that the latest medieval rostra finds were from smaller, often female, walruses of a distinctive DNA clade, which is especially prevalent in northern Greenland. Our results suggest that more and smaller animals were targeted at increasingly untenable distances, which reflects a classic pattern of resource depletion. We consider how the trade of walrus and elephant ivory intersected, and evaluate the extent to which emergent globalisation and the “resource curse” contributed to the abandonment of Norse Greenland. This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust [MRF-2013-065], United Kingdom; Nansenfondet and the Research Council of Norway [projects 262777 and 230821], Norway. |
author2 |
Leverhulme Trust Nansenfondet and the Research Council of Norway MRF-2013-065 262777 230821 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barrett, James |
author_facet |
Barrett, James |
author_sort |
Barrett, James |
title |
Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
title_short |
Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
title_full |
Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
title_fullStr |
Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
title_sort |
ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2262/91845 http://people.tcd.ie/barretjh https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122 |
genre |
Greenland Odobenus rosmarus walrus* |
genre_facet |
Greenland Odobenus rosmarus walrus* |
op_relation |
Quaternary Science Reviews; 229; References https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122. James H. Barrett, Sanne Boessenkool, Catherine J. Kneale, Tamsin C. O’Connell, Bastiaan Star, 'Ecological globalisation, serial depletion and the medieval trade of walrus rostra', 2020, Quaternary Science Reviews;, 229; 02773791 Y http://hdl.handle.net/2262/91845 http://people.tcd.ie/barretjh 215022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122 |
op_rights |
Y openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106122 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
229 |
container_start_page |
106122 |
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1810446274412937216 |