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Buss DL, Dierickx K, Falahati-Anbaran M, Elliot D, Rankin LK, Whitridge P, Frasier B, Richard JS, van den Hurk Y, Barrett JH. Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol. OPEN RESEARCH EUROPE 2024; 4:86. [PMID: 39070944 PMCID: PMC11283631 DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.17197.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
The walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, is an iconic pinniped and predominant molluscivore that is well adapted to Arctic and subarctic environments. Its circumpolar distribution, large body size and ivory tusks facilitated its vital role as food, raw material (for tools and art), income, and cultural influence on many Arctic Indigenous communities for millennia. Intensification of hunting (often due to the arrival of Europeans, especially between the 16 th and 19 th centuries) to obtain ivory, hide, blubber and meat, resulted in diminished, sometimes extirpated, walrus populations. Zooarchaeological, artefactual and documentary evidence of walrus material has been collated at local and regional scales and is frequently focused on a specific culture or period of time. Systematic collation of this evidence across the Northern Hemisphere will provide insight into the chronology and circumpolar distribution of walrus hunting and provide a tool to document societal change in walrus resource use. Here, we lay out a systematic review protocol to collate records of archaeological walrus artefacts, tusks and bones that have been documented primarily within published literature to archive when and where (as feasible) walrus extractions occurred between 1 CE and 2000 CE. These data will be openly available for the scientific community. The resulting dataset will be the first to provide spatiotemporal information (including the recognition of knowledge gaps) regarding past walrus populations and extirpations on a circumpolar scale. Our protocol is published to ensure reproducibility and comparability in the future, and to encourage the adoption of systematic review methodology (including pre-published protocols) in archaeology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle L. Buss
- Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet Vitenskapsmuseet, Trondheim, Trøndelag, 7491, Norway
| | - Katrien Dierickx
- Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet Vitenskapsmuseet, Trondheim, Trøndelag, 7491, Norway
| | - Mohsen Falahati-Anbaran
- Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet Vitenskapsmuseet, Trondheim, Trøndelag, 7491, Norway
| | - Deirdre Elliot
- Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Lisa K. Rankin
- Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Peter Whitridge
- Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | | | - Jean-Simon Richard
- Musee des Îles de la Madeleine, Les Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec, Canada
| | - Youri van den Hurk
- Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet Vitenskapsmuseet, Trondheim, Trøndelag, 7491, Norway
| | - James H. Barrett
- Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet Vitenskapsmuseet, Trondheim, Trøndelag, 7491, Norway
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Buss DL, van den Hurk Y, Falahati-Anbaran M, Elliott D, Evans S, Frasier BA, Mulville JA, Rankin LK, Stebergløkken H, Whitridge P, Barrett JH. Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of the great whales over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0295604. [PMID: 38096207 PMCID: PMC10721060 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Archaeological faunal remains provide key insights into human societies in the past, alongside information on previous resource utilisation and exploitation of wildlife populations. The great whales (Mysticete and sperm whales) were hunted unsustainably throughout the 16th - 20th centuries (herein defined as the modern period) leading to large population declines and variable recovery patterns among species. Humans have utilised whales as a resource through carcass scavenging for millennia; however, increasing local and regional ethnographic and archaeological evidence suggests that, prior to the modern period, hunting of the great whales was more common than previously thought; impacts of earlier hunting pressures on the population ecology of many whale species remains relatively unknown. Hunting guided by traditional ecological knowledge may have been sustainable and likely originated in societies that also incorporated opportunistic use of stranded individuals. The collation of georeferenced zooarchaeological data of the great whales between the 1st - 20th centuries CE worldwide will provide insight into the timescale and distribution of resource utilisation of the great whales and how this varied within and between societies, and may have changed over time. By comparing regions of known resource utilisation and breeding and feeding grounds of current-day whale populations, this information will subsequently be used to infer regions where whale populations were possibly lost or extirpated prior to detailed historical records. This systematic review protocol also provides a template for archaeologists, ecologists, and historians interested in using faunal remains to infer historical ecology and resource use of wild animal populations. The transparency of our data collection approach provides opportunities for reproducibility and comparability with future datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle L. Buss
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, NTNU University Museum, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Youri van den Hurk
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, NTNU University Museum, Trondheim, Norway
| | | | - Deirdre Elliott
- Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
| | - Sally Evans
- MSDS Marine and MSDS Heritage, Holbrook, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jacqueline A. Mulville
- School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa K. Rankin
- Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
| | | | - Peter Whitridge
- Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
| | - James H. Barrett
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, NTNU University Museum, Trondheim, Norway
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