As new research suggests<\/a>, it does appear that walrus hunting, not farming, was the main source of prosperity for many of the Vikings\u2014an estimated 3,000 at peak population\u2014who chose to eke out a living on the farthest fringe of European culture.<\/p>\n A replica Viking casket made of gilded bronze and ivory. Photo by Werner Forman\/Corbis<\/p><\/div>\n Throughout the first millennium CE, European economics went through an important change as new trade networks across Europe and Asia opened markets for goods of all kinds. And in the first few centuries after Erik the Red\u2019s westward voyage, the number of ivory artifacts in medieval Europe blossomed.<\/p>\n The Middle Age ivory trade was incredibly lucrative, but it was not easy money. One historical source describes a 15-day row in a six-oared boat from the nearest Viking settlement to the walrus colonies in\u00a0Disko Bay<\/a>, on Greenland\u2019s west coast. Even in summer, the men would have risked hypothermia. With the hunt complete, the hunters would reverse the journey, now with up to 160 severed walrus heads piled in the boat. (Tusk extraction, it seems, was easier once the head had rotted for a few weeks.)<\/p>\n Still, the risks had a sizable reward. A document from 1327 CE, analyzed by Christian Keller of Oslo University, showed that a load of walrus ivory equivalent to 520 tusks was enough to pay six years\u2019 worth of Greenland\u2019s taxes to their ruler, the king of Norway. That much walrus ivory had the same value as 780 cows or 60 tonnes of fish.<\/p>\n During the Viking ivory trade\u2019s boom years, Europe\u2019s economy was based on luxury goods, with elites and nobles trading high-prestige gifts, says McGovern. But then, in the High Medieval period (about 1200 to 1400 CE), things gradually changed. The European economy transitioned from one based around luxury goods to something more akin to a modern economy, where bulk goods like wool and fish are sold for profit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Greenlanders were left stuck in the old economy, they were left producing for the prestige goods market,\u201d says McGovern. As European markets for bulk goods expanded and fashions moved away from ivory decorations, the incentive to visit Greenland may have disappeared.<\/p>\n![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/wf002135.jpg\")
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