Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages
Mediaeval walrus hunting in Iceland and Greenland—driven by Western European demand for ivory and walrus hide ropes—has been identified as an important pre-modern example of ecological globalization. By contrast, the main origin of walrus ivory destined for eastern European markets, and then onward...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046356 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 |
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/3046356 2023-05-15T15:07:19+02:00 Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages Barrett, James Khamaiko, Natalia Ferrari, Giada Cuevas, Angelica Kneale, Catherine Hufthammer, Anne Karin Pálsdóttir, Albína Hulda Star, Bastiaan 2022 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046356 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 eng eng The Royal Society urn:issn:0962-8452 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046356 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 cristin:2018524 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. 2022, 289 (1972), 20212773. Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2022 the authors 20212773 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences 289 1972 Journal article Peer reviewed 2022 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 2023-03-14T17:43:54Z Mediaeval walrus hunting in Iceland and Greenland—driven by Western European demand for ivory and walrus hide ropes—has been identified as an important pre-modern example of ecological globalization. By contrast, the main origin of walrus ivory destined for eastern European markets, and then onward trade to Asia, is assumed to have been Arctic Russia. Here, we investigate the geographical origin of nine twelfth-century CE walrus specimens discovered in Kyiv, Ukraine—combining archaeological typology (based on chaîne opératoire assessment), ancient DNA (aDNA) and stable isotope analysis. We show that five of seven specimens tested using aDNA can be genetically assigned to a western Greenland origin. Moreover, six of the Kyiv rostra had been sculpted in a way typical of Greenlandic imports to Western Europe, and seven are tentatively consistent with a Greenland origin based on stable isotope analysis. Our results suggest that demand for the products of Norse Greenland's walrus hunt stretched not only to Western Europe but included Ukraine and, by implication given linked trade routes, also Russia, Byzantium and Asia. These observations illuminate the surprising scale of mediaeval ecological globalization and help explain the pressure this process exerted on distant wildlife populations and those who harvested them. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland greenlandic Iceland walrus* University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Arctic Greenland Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289 1972 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
Mediaeval walrus hunting in Iceland and Greenland—driven by Western European demand for ivory and walrus hide ropes—has been identified as an important pre-modern example of ecological globalization. By contrast, the main origin of walrus ivory destined for eastern European markets, and then onward trade to Asia, is assumed to have been Arctic Russia. Here, we investigate the geographical origin of nine twelfth-century CE walrus specimens discovered in Kyiv, Ukraine—combining archaeological typology (based on chaîne opératoire assessment), ancient DNA (aDNA) and stable isotope analysis. We show that five of seven specimens tested using aDNA can be genetically assigned to a western Greenland origin. Moreover, six of the Kyiv rostra had been sculpted in a way typical of Greenlandic imports to Western Europe, and seven are tentatively consistent with a Greenland origin based on stable isotope analysis. Our results suggest that demand for the products of Norse Greenland's walrus hunt stretched not only to Western Europe but included Ukraine and, by implication given linked trade routes, also Russia, Byzantium and Asia. These observations illuminate the surprising scale of mediaeval ecological globalization and help explain the pressure this process exerted on distant wildlife populations and those who harvested them. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barrett, James Khamaiko, Natalia Ferrari, Giada Cuevas, Angelica Kneale, Catherine Hufthammer, Anne Karin Pálsdóttir, Albína Hulda Star, Bastiaan |
spellingShingle |
Barrett, James Khamaiko, Natalia Ferrari, Giada Cuevas, Angelica Kneale, Catherine Hufthammer, Anne Karin Pálsdóttir, Albína Hulda Star, Bastiaan Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages |
author_facet |
Barrett, James Khamaiko, Natalia Ferrari, Giada Cuevas, Angelica Kneale, Catherine Hufthammer, Anne Karin Pálsdóttir, Albína Hulda Star, Bastiaan |
author_sort |
Barrett, James |
title |
Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages |
title_short |
Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages |
title_full |
Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages |
title_fullStr |
Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages |
title_full_unstemmed |
Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages |
title_sort |
walruses on the dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of greenlandic ivory in the middle ages |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046356 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland greenlandic Iceland walrus* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland greenlandic Iceland walrus* |
op_source |
20212773 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences 289 1972 |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0962-8452 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046356 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 cristin:2018524 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. 2022, 289 (1972), 20212773. |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2022 the authors |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2773 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
289 |
container_issue |
1972 |
_version_ |
1766338851131883520 |