High demand for walrus tusk in Europe helped Greenland's Norse colonies thrive. But declining demands and resources could help explain why they mysteriously disappeared in the 15th century.
suggests it may have been triggered by the over-exploitation of the community's most prized resource—walrus tusk.
"Norse Greenlanders needed to trade with Europe for iron and timber, and had mainly walrus products to export in exchange," lead author James H. Barrett from the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology said in"We suspect that decreasing values of walrus ivory in Europe meant more and more tusks were harvested to keep the Greenland colonies economically viable."
The results of that analysis suggest a shift to animals from an evolutionary branch of walrus predominantly found in the area around Baffin Bay, in the northwest of the country. This theory is supported by the presence of Norse artefacts among the remains of 13th and 14th century Inuit settlements, the researchers say.
As the supply chain dwindled, there appeared to be a growing preference on mainland Europe for elephant tusk, brought via the West African trade routes.
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