Medieval walrus ivory may reveal trade between Norse and Native Americans hundreds of years before Columbus, research shows

A dogged search for walrus ivory may have brought together two unlikely cultures — the Thule Inuits of the Arctic and the Norse of Greenland — hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus set sail, a new study suggests.

By analyzing samples from Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) tusk ivory collected by Norwegian explorers in Greenland and later exported to Europe for trade, archaeologists have identified sites where the Norse and Inuit likely overlapped, they reported in a study published Sept. 27 in the journal. Scientific progress.

The researchers also built and sailed clinker-built Norwegian boats to understand the long and dangerous journey the Norwegian people may have taken from southern Greenland to the high Arctic to hunt walruses.

Previously, archaeologists knew that Norwegian or Scandinavian settlers in Iceland and Greenland had hunted walruses for their ivory beginning around 900 AD, creating a trade network that stretched across Europe.

“Walrus ivory was considered the gold of the time,” said the first author Emily Ruiz-Puertaa bioarchaeologist at the University of Copenhagen told LiveScience. “People used walrus ivory to pay church taxes. It was considered a very elitist gift.”

Related: An epic sea level rise of over 10 feet drove the Vikings out of Greenland

The Norse eventually decimated Iceland’s walrus population and had to sail to Greenland to keep the ivory flow going. Archaeologists had assumed that Walrus hunting by the Norse took place only in southern Greenland, where they had settled. But in her thesis from 2024Ruiz-Puerta studied the genetic fingerprints of walruses in the Arctic and found that each population had a distinct genetic signature. This meant that if Ruiz-Puerta could extract DNA from a walrus ivory artifact in Greenland or Europe, she could determine where it came from in North America and Iceland.

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Ivory from Greenland and Iceland was often transported back to Europe still attached to the walrus’ skull. (Image credit: Mikkel Høegh-Post)

“What really surprised us was that a large portion of the walrus ivory exported to Europe came from very remote hunting grounds deep in the High Arctic,” Peter Jordana professor of archeology at Lund University in Sweden and senior author of the study, said in a statement.

By the 13th century, most walrus ivory samples came from hundreds of miles north of Norse settlements, Ruiz-Puerta said. If Norwegian traders wanted to access walrus ivory this far north, it is possible that they would have developed sufficient sailing capabilities to survive the sea ice, allowing them to hunt walruses and possibly even trade for ivory with the Thule Inuitan indigenous people who lived in what are now parts of eastern Russia, the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. Alternatively, the Norse might have remained in southern Greenland and traded with the Thule Inuit.

Also around the 13th century, the Thule Inuit had recently migrated to the same northern hunting grounds. They were experts on Arctic life and had advanced ‘to change gearHarpoons that latched onto prey, allowing them to hunt walruses in open water. They might have been able to supply Norwegian traders with walrus ivory, if the Norse had anything valuable to trade with, the researchers suggested.

Norwegian routes (in purple) stretched from Scandinavia to Iceland and southern Greenland. During the same period, the Thule Inuit (in orange) moved from Western Canada to the Northern Greenland area. The two groups may have worked together when the Norse sailed to northern Greenland to hunt walruses. (Image credit: Ruiz-Puerta and co-authors)

Evidence that the Thule Inuit traveled far enough south to contact Norse settlements on Greenland has not been found, the study said. But it’s possible that the Norse traveled north to the high Arctic to hunt walruses and interacted with the Thule Inuit there, the researchers suggested. To test this idea, study co-authoring Greer Jarrettan archaeologist at Lund University, has recreated and sailed Norwegian boats to learn about the feasibility of the journey and the possible routes Norwegian travelers may have taken to the High Arctic.

To complete this journey, “walrus hunters likely left Norwegian settlements as soon as the sea ice retreated,” Jarrett said in the statement. “Those who aimed for the far north had a very narrow seasonal window within which they could travel along the coast, hunt walruses, process and store the skins and ivory aboard their ships, and return home before the seas froze again.” The Norse would likely have hunted hundreds of walruses in this short period, making this treacherous journey only every few years, Ruiz-Puerta added.

Greer Jarrett and colleagues sailed Norwegian ships from the Middle Ages to understand their ability to navigate difficult Arctic waters. This smaller ship had a limited loading capacity. (Image credit: Greer Jarrett)

Jarrett and his colleagues’ travels helped them understand Norwegian capabilities. It was possible for Norwegian traders to sail hundreds of kilometers into the Arctic Circle, where they may have encountered the Thule Inuit, the researchers found.

It is likely that the Vikingswho were largely Norwegianmet native americans even earlier in newfoundland canada where the Vikings arrived in 1021 AD. It also seems likely that the Norse population of Greenland had encounters with the Tuniit, who preceded the Thule Inuit, the researchers wrote. For example, a fragment of a copper pot was found at a Tuniit site in northwestern Greenland, the researchers noted. But in the case of the possible connection to walrus hunting, contact between native North Americans and Europeans could have occurred in the 13th century, about 200 years before Columbus landed in the Caribbean.

“I think that’s very important for human history,” Ruiz-Puerta said.