The Atlantic Walrus

Xénia Keighley completed her PhD as part of the Marie Curie Horizon 2020 ArchSci2020 network, investigating ancient genomics of the Atlantic walrus. She has been based at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and defended her PhD thesis in January 2021. Xénia’s academic background is in Biology, with a Bachelor of Philosophy (Science)(Honours) awarded by the Australian National University. Her undergraduate studies focused on taxonomy, phylogeography, botany and environmental sciences. Morten Tange Olsen is an associate professor at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research seeks to document and understand the effects of environmental change, pathogens and human activities on marine mammals and ecosystems, using ancient, environmental and modern DNA analyses, museum collections and observations in the wild. He is a member of multiple marine mammal expert groups, including the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) and the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), as well as the Danish Ministry of Environment and Environmental Protection Agency. Peter Jordan is currently a professor of Archaeology at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Sweden. His research examines long-term human animal environment interactions in the circumpolar regions, including northern Europe and Northeast Asia. He was previously Directorof the Arctic Centre at the University of Groningen and the Netherlands Scientistin-Charge in the ArchSci2020 Network. He also served as the Netherlands representative in the Council of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) andwas also Chair of IASC’s Polar Archaeology Network (PAN). Sean Desjardins is a postdoctoral researcher at the Arctic Centre and the Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen (the Netherlands)and a research associate at the Canadian Museum of Nature (Canada). An anthropological archaeologist with more than a decade of experience investigating human walrus interactions in Inuit Nunangat (the traditional Inuit territories of Arctic Canada), his research interests include Indigenous knowledge systems, food security/food safety among hunting gathering fishing populations andlong-term human responses to climate change in the Arctic. He represents the Netherlands in the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) of the Arctic Council.

• 1 IntroductionSection I Atlantic walrus evolution, ecology, and behavior2 The surprising evolutionary heritage of the Atlantic walrus as chronicled by the fossil record3 Ecology and behavior of Atlantic walruses4 Stocks, distribution and abundance Section II Walruses and Indigenous peoples5 Pre-Inuit walrus use in Arctic Canada and Greenland, c.2500 BCE to 1250 CE6 Subsistence walrus hunting in Inuit Nunangat (Arctic Canada) and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) from the 13th century CE to presentSection III European walrus use from the Norse to present7 Early European and Greenlandic walrus hunting: Motivations, techniques and practices8 The exploitation of walrus ivory in medieval Europe9 Modern European commercial walrus exploitation, 1700 to 1960 CESection IV Future directions and innovations in Atlantic walrus research10 Molecular advances in archaeological and biological research on Atlantic walrus 11 Atlantic walrus management, regulation and conservation12 Anthropogenic impacts on the Atlantic walrus13 The future of Atlantic walrus in a rapidly warming Arctic