Was it for walrus? Viking Age settlement and medieval walrus ivory trade in Iceland and Greenland

Abstract

Walrus-tusk ivory and walrus-hide rope were highly desired goods in Viking Age northwest Europe. New finds of walrus bone and ivory in early Viking Age contexts in Iceland are concentrated in the southwest , and suggest extensive exploitation of nearby walrus for meat, hide and ivory during the first century of settlement. In Greenland, archaeofauna suggest a very different specialized long-distance hunting of the much larger walrus populations in the Disko Bay area that brought mainly ivory to the settlement areas and eventually to European markets. New lead isotopic analysis of archaeological walrus ivory and bone from Greenland and Iceland offers a tool for identifying possible source regions of walrus ivory during the early Middle Ages. This opens possibilities for assessing the development and relative importance of hunting grounds from the point of view of exported products.

Climate change and society in the 15th to 18th centuries

“…Both Norse settlements in Greenland had disappeared by around 1450. Their initial endurance and eventual destruction reveals that communities can be both highly resilient and vulnerable to climate change at the same time (Brewington et al, 2015;Campbell, 2016, p. 206;D'Andrea, Huang, Fritz, & Anderson, 2011;Dugmore et al, 2013;Frei et al, 2015;Golding, 2011;Golding et al, 2015;Nelson et al, 2016;Paul Adderley & Simpson, 2006). Some of the most striking examples of societies enduring and exploiting the LIA come from the hypothesized global crisis of the 17th century.…”

Probing the provenance of archaeological glaze colorants: Polychrome faunal reliefs of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon

“…Sample signal intensities were monitored on mass 208 and kept at about 3 V. Accuracy and reproducibility were assessed by routine analyses of the certified reference material NIST SRM 981, which achieved an external reproducibility of ±0.063% (2 σ ; n > 120) for the 206 Pb/ 204 Pb ratio (Frei et al . ). Based on routine analyses of NIST SRM 981, all sample chemically inert perfluoroplastiresults were corrected for instrumentally induced mass fractionation (0.103%/AMU).…”

Fächerübergreifender Unterricht zur Nachhaltigkeit: wissens oder verhaltensorientiert?

“…Diese Jagd diente somit vor allem dem Handel und der dadurch möglichen Beschaff ung von Gütern, die nicht selbst hergestellt werden konnten (vgl. Frei et al 2015). Da beide Jagdformen Kooperation voraussetzten, bildete sich ein stratifi ziertes Gemeinwesen mitsamt den dazugehörigen Rechtsgrundlagen heraus (vgl.…”

“…Da beide Jagdformen Kooperation voraussetzten, bildete sich ein stratifi ziertes Gemeinwesen mitsamt den dazugehörigen Rechtsgrundlagen heraus (vgl. Berglund 2010;Madsen 2015). Letzteres war offenkundig geeignet die Übernutzung der Karibu-Bestände zu verhindern, eine Leistung, die der egalitären Inuit-Gesellschaft nicht gelang (vgl.…”