The Late Wisconsinan and Holocene Record of Walrus (Odobenus Rosmarus) from North America: a Review with New Data from Arctic and Atlantic Canada ARTHUR S
ARCTIC VOL. 52, NO. 2 (JUNE 1999) P. 160–181 The Late Wisconsinan and Holocene Record of Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) from North America: A Review with New Data from Arctic and Atlantic Canada ARTHUR S. DYKE,1 JAMES HOOPER,2 C. RICHARD HARINGTON3 and JAMES M. SAVELLE4 (Received 30 March 1998; accepted in revised form 20 October 1998) ABSTRACT. The Late Wisconsinan and Holocene record of the Atlantic walrus is known from numerous collections of bones and tusks from Arctic Canada and south to North Carolina, as well as from many archaeological sites in the Arctic and Subarctic. In contrast, the Pacific walrus has no dated Late Wisconsinan or early Holocene record in North America, and it may have been displaced into the northwest Pacific at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The Atlantic walrus rapidly exploited newly deglaciated territory, moving northward from its LGM refugium and reaching the Bay of Fundy by 12800 B.P., the Grand Banks by 12500 B.P., southern Labrador by 11 500 B.P., and the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) by 9700 B.P. Its southern range limit may have retracted to the Bay of Fundy by ca. 7500 B.P. Within the CAA, walrus remains cluster in two main age groups: 9700 to 8500 B.P. and 5000 to 4/3000 B.P. This pattern strongly resembles the distribution of bowhead whale radiocarbon ages from the same area, which suggests a common control by sea-ice conditions. Walrus remains occur in Indian culture archaeological sites as old as 7500 B.P. and, in some cases (Namu, British Columbia, and Mackinac Island, Michigan), they evidently represent long-distance human transport.
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