ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2018
Ancient DNA reveals the chronology of walrus ivory trade from Norse Greenland.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ontogenetic changes and sexual dimorphism in the cranium and mandible of the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus L.).Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Hiding in plain sight: the biomolecular identification of pinniped use in medieval manuscripts.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Greenland Norse walrus exploitation deep into the Arctic.Science advances · 2024Article
- Population structure ofRoyal Society open science · 2024Article
- Paleoproteomic identification of the species used in fourteenth century gut-skin garments from the archaeological site of Nuulliit, Greenland.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The dahliagram: An interdisciplinary tool for investigation, visualization, and communication of past human-environmental interaction.Science advances · 2023Article
- Holocene deglaciation drove rapid genetic diversification of Atlantic walrus.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Walruses on the Dnieper: new evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Predicting sample success for large-scale ancient DNA studies on marine mammals.Molecular ecology resources · 2021Article
- Molecular identification and geographic origin of a post-Medieval elephant finding from southwestern Portugal using high-throughput sequencing.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement.Molecular biology and evolution · 2019Article
- Not a limitless resource: ethics and guidelines for destructive sampling of archaeofaunal remains.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
The importance of the Atlantic walrus ivory trade for the colonization, peak, and collapse of the medieval Norse colonies on Greenland has been extensively debated. Nevertheless, no studies have directly traced medieval European ivory back to distinct Arctic populations of walrus. Analysing the entire mitogenomes of 37 archaeological specimens from Europe, Svalbard, and Greenland, we here discover that Atlantic walrus comprises two monophyletic mitochondrial (MT) clades, which diverged between 23 400 and 251 120 years ago. Our improved genomic resolution allows us to reinterpret the geographical distribution of partial MT data from 306 modern and nineteenth-century specimens, finding that one of these clades was exclusively accessible to Greenlanders. With this discovery, we ascertain the biological origin of 23 archaeological specimens from Europe (most dated between 900 and 1400 CE). These results reveal a significant shift in trade from an early, predominantly eastern source towards a near exclusive representation of Greenland ivory. Our study provides empirical evidence for how this remote Arctic resource was progressively integrated into a medieval pan-European trade network, contributing to both the resilience and vulnerability of Norse Greenland society.
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