The Vikings hunted walrus in the North American Arctic

New research suggests that Vikings hunted walrus far north in Arctic North America, much further than previously thought. This suggests that the Vikings encountered indigenous peoples long before Columbus “discovered” North America.

During the Viking Age, demand for walrus tusks was high in Europe. The Vikings played a major role in the trade of walrus ivory and it is known that walruses were hunted in Iceland and around Greenland.

In a new study, published in Science Advances, researchers from Lund University and the University of Copenhagen, among others, have examined several ivory finds using DNA. The researchers used a so-called genetic “fingerprint” to reconstruct exactly where the walrus trade items came from.

– We extracted ancient DNA from walruses collected in a variety of locations in the North Atlantic Arctic. With this information in place, we were then able to match the genetic profiles of walrus items traded by Greenland Norwegians to Europe back to very specific Arctic hunting grounds, said Morten Tange Olsen, associate professor at the Globe Institute in Copenhagen in a press release.

“Remote hunting grounds”

The findings show that between 950 and 1250, the Vikings hunted walrus much further up around the North American Arctic than previously thought. The ivory tested comes from stocks in the sea between Greenland and Canada, and possibly from the interior of the Canadian Arctic. The results surprised the researchers, as it was previously thought that the Vikings hunted around their settlements in southwest Greenland.

– What really surprised us was that much of the walrus ivory exported back to Europe came from very remote hunting grounds deep in the High Arctic, that is, north of where the tundra ends, says Peter Jordan, professor of archaeology at Lund University.

Sailing that far required great seafaring skills, so researchers wondered if it was possible that the Vikings may have had this type of seafaring knowledge. To find answers, they used reconstructed sailing routes, and the researchers also made experimental voyages in traditional clinker-built Norwegian boats. According to the researchers, the Vikings had sufficient resources and knowledge to make these voyages.

Encountering indigenous people centuries before Columbus

At this time, the hunting grounds of the High Arctic were inhabited by the so-called Thule Inuit and possibly other Arctic indigenous peoples. They also hunted walrus. The study strengthens the theory that the Vikings had contact with North American peoples centuries before Christopher Columbus “discovered” North America.

– We will never know exactly, but on a more human level, these encounters in the vast and frightening landscapes should have aroused both curiosity and fascination, says Jordan:

– We need to do much more research to understand these interactions and motivations, especially from an indigenous perspective as well as a more “Eurocentric” Nordic perspective.

It should be noted that encounters – and conflicts – between Norse and North American Indians or Inuit are already mentioned in the old Icelandic sagas, although it is not always easy to determine the veracity of the stories.