Walruses on the Dnieper: New evidence for the intercontinental trade of Greenlandic ivory in the Middle Ages

The depletion of walruses by medieval hunting in Iceland and Greenland has been identified as an important pre-modern example of ecological globalization, linking rural or hunter/gatherer communities with distant centres of consumption. An important question remains regarding the origin of medieval eastern European walrus finds, in Russia and Ukraine. It has long been posited that the most important source of walrus ivory for medieval eastern Europe was Arctic Russia. Here we use aDNA and stable isotope analyses on seven of nine Kiev specimens, and provide an archaeological chaîne opératoire (operational sequence) assessment of the way in which the seven most complete examples were prepared for trade. Thus an understanding of ecological globalization, and of the potential scale of demand focused on Greenland's walruses, can be greatly enhanced by determining the ultimate origin or origins of the Kiev walrus finds.