The hunting of marine mammals as a source of subsistence, trade, and commercial revenue has formed an important part of human cultures across the North Atlantic. One important prey species has been the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), sought after for meat, skin, blubber, ivory, and bone. Unfortunately, biological studies of current walrus populations and studies across the humanities and social sciences into past use and hunting of walruses, have been poorly integrated. Disciplinary boundaries have left a gap in understanding the reciprocal effects of human-walrus interactions. Emerging interdisciplinary methods offer new opportunities to write the historical ecology of Atlantic walruses. The integration of methods such as ancient DNA, isotopes, past population modelling, zooarchaeological assemblages, and ethnographic interviews can now be used to answer previously intractable questions. For example, how has walrus hunting shaped and been influenced by changes in human settlement and trade, what have been the cumulative impacts on walrus populations, the extent of anthropogenic selective pressures or the effect of changing hunting regimes on particular populations of walruses? New, collaborative research approaches applied to the wealth of Arctic archaeological faunal remains already housed in museum collections offer a unique chance to explore the past dynamics of human-animal interactions.

Declining sea ice is expected to change the Arctic's physical and biological systems in ways that are difficult to predict. This study used stable isotope compositions (δ13C and δ15N) of archaeological, historic, and modern Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) bone collagen to investigate the impacts of changing sea ice conditions on walrus diet during the last ~4000 yr. An index of past sea ice conditions was generated using dinocyst-based reconstructions from three locations in the northeastern Chukchi Sea. Archaeological walrus samples were assigned to intervals of high and low sea ice, and δ13C and δ15N were compared across ice states. Mean δ13C and δ15N values were similar for archaeological walruses from intervals of high and low sea ice; however, variability among walruses was greater during low-ice intervals, possibly indicating decreased availability of preferred prey. Overall, sea ice conditions were not a primary driver of changes in walrus diet. The diet of modern walruses was not consistent with archaeological low sea ice intervals. Rather, the low average trophic position of modern walruses (primarily driven by males), with little variability among individuals, suggests that trophic changes to this Arctic ecosystem are still underway or are unprecedented in the last ~4000 yr.

In this paper, we compile estimates of cod size distributions based on zooarchaeological data and contemporary length-frequency data to look at variability in size composition through time across the North Pacific, from the northern Kuril Islands through the Aleutian Islands to southeast Alaska. The results suggest that a strong longitudinal trend in cod size has remained consistent over time, with the largest cod found to the west. We find that five of nine sites show that overall cod length and distribution of the largest fish remain relatively unchanged. Two sites where we find truncation of the length distributions—or loss of the largest fish—are places where the modern fisheries have the longest history and have been most intense, suggesting a potential for anthropogenic impacts on these local populations. We acknowledge two limitations in these data: (1) there are differences in selectivity between the ancient and modern fisheries; and (2) seasonal variability in fish availability was observed to be an important explanatory variable in the modern data set, but the season of harvest is poorly understood for the ancient collections. Therefore, while differences observed between the two data sets suggest possible anthropogenic influence on the size structure of Pacific cod, they are not conclusive.

This article combines new marine fish faunal data from medieval and early modern Icelandic archaeological sites with previously published data that focused primarily on the Settlement and Commonwealth periods. This synthesis places these new data into the larger scale of Icelandic history and marine conditions (sea-surface temperature and sea ice) to identify patterns and trends across the last 1000 years of the relationship between humans and Icelandic cod populations. We find no direct correlation between zooarchaeological patterns and sea ice or storminess in the medieval period and a possible correlation in the early modern period. We argue that this suggests a nuanced relationship between changing climates and fishing patterns in Icelandic history. While changes in sea temperature and periods of increased storminess might have made fishing productivity more variable and at times more dangerous, it is only in the early modern period that we see change in the marine zooarchaeological record that might indicate a correlation. Instead, we contend that the impacts of the changing climate relative to marine resources were mediated by social, political, economic, and even technological variables.

We use biochemical, biological, archaeological, and historical analysis to examine relationships between Atlantic cod migration, sea temperature, and shifts in the distribution and occupancy of historical fishing sites in Iceland during the last millennium. Results support the hypothesis that the cooling climate of the North Atlantic during the period commonly referred to as the Little Ice Age coincided with changes in Atlantic cod migration patterns. Historical analysis shows a concomitant increase in reports of worsening Atlantic cod fishing and a severe decrease in domestic fishing, particularly in north Iceland. We conclude that Atlantic cod fisheries in Iceland originally thrived because of the proximity to cod migration routes. However, despite the mobility of local fishers, fluctuations in fish migrations, coupled with a harsher climate and increased competition for fishing grounds, resulted in a stagnation that lasted until the eventual modernization of the fishery in the mid-nineteenth century.

We propose the concept of the “Fish Revolution” to demarcate the dramatic increase in North Atlantic fisheries after AD 1500, which led to a 15-fold increase of cod (Gadus morhua) catch volumes and likely a tripling of fish protein to the European market. We consider three key questions: (1) What were the environmental parameters of the Fish Revolution? (2) What were the globalising effects of the Fish Revolution? (3) What were the consequences of the Fish Revolution for fishing communities? While these questions would have been considered unknowable a decade or two ago, methodological developments in marine environmental history and historical ecology have moved information about both supply and demand into the realm of the discernible. Although much research remains to be done, we conclude that this was a major event in the history of resource extraction from the sea, mediated by forces of climate change and globalisation, and is likely to provide a fruitful agenda for future multidisciplinary research.

Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing this issue, we review the role of environmental variability in causing human demographic and adaptive responses. As a case study, we explore human ecodynamics of coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe, comparing population, economic, and environmental dynamics in two separate areas (northern Norway and western Finland). Population trends are reconstructed using temporal frequency distributions of radiocarbon-dated and shoreline-dated archaeological sites. These are correlated to regional environmental proxies and proxies for maritime resource use. The results demonstrate remarkably synchronous patterns across population trajectories, marine resource exploitation, settlement pattern, and technological responses. Crucially, the population dynamics strongly correspond to significant environmental changes. We evaluate competing hypotheses and suggest that the synchrony stems from similar responses to shared environmental variability. We take this to be a prehistoric human example of the “Moran effect,” positing similar responses of geographically distinct populations to shared environmental drivers. The results imply that intensified economies and social interaction networks have limited impact on long-term hunter-gatherer population trajectories beyond what is already proscribed by environmental drivers.

Using 14 proxy human population time series from around the North Pacific (Alaska, Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands), we evaluate the possibility that the North Pacific climate and marine ecosystem includes a millennial-scale regime shift cycle affecting subsistence and migration. We develop both visual and statistical methods for addressing questions about relative population growth and movement in the past. We introduce and explore the use of a Time Iterative Moran I (TIMI) spatial autocorrelation method to compare time series trends quantitatively – a method that could prove useful in other paleoecological analyses. Results reveal considerable population dynamism around the North Pacific in the last 5000 years and strengthen a previously reported inverse correlation between Northeast and Northwest Pacific proxy population indices. Visual and TIMI analyses suggest multiple, overlapping explanations for the variability, including the potential that oscillating ecological regime shifts affect the North Pacific basin. These results provide an opening for coordinated research to unpack the interrelated social, cultural and environmental dynamics around the subarctic and arctic North Pacific at different spatial and temporal scales by international teams of archaeologists, historians, paleoecologists, paleoceanographers, paleoclimatologists, modelers and data management specialists.

We present new data on regional correction factor (ΔR) conducted for Chukotka, the Commander Islands, and the western Aleutian Islands and summarize data previously published for the other parts of the region. Paired radiocarbon dates of coeval marine and terrestrial materials from the archaeological site Kaniskak were obtained in Chukotka, and one such pair was analyzed from Shemya Island (western Aleutians). Three samples of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) bones of known collection date were used for the Commander Islands. In conjunction with previously published data, the new results showed that ΔR estimates conducted for the five regions of the northern Pacific do not differ statistically. ΔR assessments combined for archaeological sites resulted in probability density curves of the same shape as that of marine organisms. Comparison of ΔR estimates made with various species of marine animals showed that sea otters and small fishes residing within coastal waters throughout their life histories are better suited for ΔR measurements than migrating seals, on the one hand, and the shells of sedentary organisms, on the other. The study provides additional support to the hypothesis that the northern Pacific is characterized by the same reservoir offset, which we estimate as 525 ± 75 yr.

The Aleutian Low (AL) is one of the major atmospheric systems that determines environmental conditions during winter in the North Pacific Ocean, with impacts that affect the climates of both Asia and North America from mid- to high latitudes. However, the multi-centennial and longer scale behavior of the AL during the Holocene is not fully understood. In this study, AL variability since 7.5 ka was examined by applying the principal component analysis technique to published δ18O data derived from sedimentary calcite, peat, ice, and speleothem from western North America. The extracted Principal Component 1 (PC1) represents a dramatic change from the mid- to late Holocene, and appears to reflect long-term intensified AL related to interactions between orbitally-driven southward shift of the Westerly Jet (WJ) over East Asia and the northwestern Pacific, and intensification of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. In contrast, PC2 is characterized by multi-centennial to millennial-scale oscillations, with a spatial loading pattern that suggests PC2 reflects AL intensity and position shifts. These oscillations are contemporaneous with both WJ latitude and/or the meandering path shifts over East Asia and solar activity change, suggesting that a decrease/increase in solar irradiance is related to AL variability via interactions with the WJ.

Postglacial changes in sea-surface conditions, including sea-ice cover, summer temperature, salinity, and productivity were reconstructed from the analyses of dinocyst assemblages in core S2528 collected in the northwestern Barents Sea. The results show glaciomarine-type conditions until about 11,300 ± 300 cal yr BP and limited influence of Atlantic water at the surface into the Barents Sea possibly due to the proximity of the Svalbard-Barents Sea ice sheet. This was followed by a transitional period generally characterized by cold conditions with dense sea-ice cover and low-salinity pulses likely related to episodic freshwater or meltwater discharge, which lasted until 8700 ± 700 cal yr BP. The onset of “interglacial” conditions in surface waters was marked by a major change in dinocyst assemblages, from dominant heterotrophic to dominant phototrophic taxa. Until 4100 ± 150 cal yr BP, however, sea-surface conditions remained cold, while sea-surface salinity and sea-ice cover recorded large amplitude variations. By ~4000 cal yr BP optimum sea-surface temperature of up to 4°C in summer and maximum salinity of ~34 psu suggest enhanced influence of Atlantic water, and productivity reached up to 150 gC/m2/yr. After 2200 ± 1300 cal yr BP, a distinct cooling trend accompanied by sea-ice spreading characterized surface waters. Hence, during the Holocene, with exception of an interval spanning about 4000 to 2000 cal yr BP, the northern Barents Sea experienced harsh environments, relatively low productivity, and unstable conditions probably unsuitable for human settlements.