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A dogged search for walrus ivory may have make for two unlikely cultures together — the Thule Inuits of the Arctic and the Norse of Greenland — hundred of years before Christopher Columbus set sail , a new survey suggests .
By canvass samples of Atlanticwalrus(Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus ) tusk ivory collected by Norse adventurer inGreenlandand subsequently exported to Europe for business deal , archeologist have pinpointed locations where the Norse and Inuit in all likelihood overlapped , they reported in a sketch published Sept. 27 in the journalScience Advances .
To test whether the Norse could have traveled northward from southern Greenland into the Arctic Circle, archaeologist Greer Jarrett recreated and sailed medieval-style ships.
The research worker also build and sailed in clinker - built Norwegian boats to understand the farsighted and dangerous journeying that the Norse the great unwashed may have pick out from southern Greenland into the High Arctic to hunt walruses .
Previously , archaeologist knew that Norse , or Scandinavian , settlers on Iceland and Greenland had track down walruses for their ivory commence around A.D. 900 , establish a trade internet that extended across Europe .
" Walrus ivory was consider the gold of that time , " study first authorEmily Ruiz - Puerta , a bioarchaeologist at the University of Copenhagen , say Live Science . " People used sea horse off-white to devote church tax . It was consider a very elite gift . "
Ivory from Greenland and Iceland was often transported back to Europe still attached to the walrus' skull.
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The Norse eventually decimated the sea horse population of Iceland , and had to voyage to Greenland to keep up the menstruum of off-white . Archaeologists had assume that walrus hunting by the Norse had happen only in southern Greenland , where they had decide . But in her2024 thesis , Ruiz - Puerta studied the genetic fingerprints of sea horse across the Arctic , and found that each population had a distinct genetic signature tune . This meant that if she could extract DNA from a walrus ivory artifact in Greenland or Europe , Ruiz - Puerta could nail where it had come from in North America and Iceland .
" What really surprise us was that much of the walrus off-white export back to Europe was develop in very remote hunt primer coat located deep into the High Arctic,“Peter Jordan , a professor of archeology at Lund University in Sweden and senior source on the survey , said in astatement .
Norse routes (in purple) extended from Scandinavia to Iceland and southern Greenland. During the same time period, the Thule Inuit (in orange) moved into the North Greenland area from western Canada. The two groups may have interacted as the Norse sailed into north Greenland to hunt walrus.
By the thirteenth century , most walrus ivory sample come from hundreds of geographical mile north of Norse settlements , Ruiz - Puerta said . For Norse monger to access walrus ivory so far north , it ’s possible they develop sailing potentiality advanced enough to survive the ocean ice so they could hunt walruses and mayhap even trade for ivory with theThule Inuit , an Indigenous masses who lived in what are now parts of eastern Russia , the Canadian Arctic and Greenland . Alternatively , perhaps the Norse abide put in southern Greenland and trade with the Thule Inuit there .
Also around the 13th century , the Thule Inuit had late migrate to these same northerly hunt grounds . They were experts in Arctic living , and had developed sophisticated " toggling " harpoons that would latch into prey , enabling them to hunt walrus in open water . They would have been capable of provide the Norse monger with walrus ivory , if the Norse had anything valuable to trade with , the investigator evoke .
Evidence of the Thule Inuit traveling far enough south to contact Norse settlement on Greenland has n’t been find , the study take note . But it ’s potential that the Norse traveled Union to the High Arctic to run walrus and interact with the Thule Inuit there , the investigator propose . To test this idea , study co - authorGreer Jarrett , an archaeologist at Lund University , repair and sailed in Norse boat to learn about the journey ’s feasibility and the possible routes Norse voyagers may have taken to the High Arctic .
Greer Jarrett and colleagues sailed recreation medieval era Norse ships to understand their ability to sail in difficult Arctic waters. This smaller ship had limited cargo capacity.
To pull off this journeying , " seahorse hunters belike departed from the Norse settlements as before long as the ocean chalk withdraw , " Jarrett said in the financial statement . " Those shoot for for the far compass north had a very close seasonal window within which to journey up the slide , Holman Hunt seahorse , process and stash away the hides and ivory onboard their vessels , and return home before the seas froze again . " The Norse likely would have hound hundreds of walruses in this inadequate period , and only made the perfidious journey every few geezerhood , Ruiz - Puerta tally .
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Jarrett and his colleague ' journey helped them understand Norse capabilities . It was potential for Norse traders to sail century of miles into the Arctic circle , where they possibly encountered the Thule Inuit , the investigator come up .
It ’s likely that theVikings , who werelargely Norse , play Indigenous Americans even earlier in Newfoundland , Canada , where theVikings go far in A.D. 1021 . It also seem likely that Greenland ’s Norse citizenry had encounter with the Tuniit , who preceded the Thule Inuit , the investigator write . For instance , a brass throne sherd was constitute at a Tuniit site by northwest Greenland , the researchers note . But in the case of the possible walrus - hound connection , touch between Indigenous North Americans and Europeans could have chance in the thirteenth one C , around 200 years before Columbus landed in the Caribbean .
" I think for human history , that ’s really significant , " Ruiz - Puerta said .
