Fantastic walrus ivory treasures coming to Norway
World-famous treasures crafted from walrus ivory are on their way to Norway, including chess pieces from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Were they originally from Norway? And why did the walrus trade disappear?
Before elephant ivory dominated the market, walrus ivory, made from walrus tusks, was very popular among artists and their customers.
The international trade flourished throughout the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, and the tusks were often transformed into beautiful objects.
Some of the most famous of these objects are now on their way to Norway as part of an exhibition at the NTNU University Museum in Trondheim on the large-scale trade of ‘ivory of the sea’.
Perhaps some of these objects are simply returning home for a visit.
James H. Barrett and Tove Eivindsen from the NTNU University Museum with replicas of the famous Lewis chessmen. A few of the real pieces are coming to Trondheim for an exhibition at the museum. Photo: NTNU University Museum
Chess pieces from Lewis
“The British Museum has confirmed that we can borrow some of the world-famous chess pieces from Lewis,” said Professor James H. Barrett.
The NTNU University Museum will borrow a king, a queen, a bishop, a knight, a pawn, and a warder, which corresponds to a rook. British–Canadian Barrett is responsible for the new exhibition. He has been working with the British Museum for many years to make this happen.
The chess pieces are among the most important archaeological treasures from the Nordic region. As their name suggests, they were found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1831.
“What we know about trade routes and the manner in which the pieces are decorated lead us to believe that they were probably made in Trondheim,” said Barrett.
The NTNU University Museum has spent many years studying both whales and walruses and can therefore contribute useful expertise.
Colleagues from NTNU, the University of Oslo and the British Museum are working together to study the chess pieces from Lewis to understand more about where the ivory came from.
However, the chess pieces are not the only objects in the exhibition.
Ivory of the Sea
- The ‘Ivory of the Sea’ exhibition will be held at the NTNU University Museum from 6 May 2025 to 31 January 2026.
- Among the treasures on display are some of the Lewis chess pieces, a walrus ivory casket, the Wingfield-Digby Crozier, and a tau cross from Munkholmen.
- The exhibition is a collaboration between 4-OCEANS, the NTNU University Museum, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop and the National Museum in Copenhagen.
Wonderful treasures
“The British Museum is also lending us an incredibly beautiful casket made of walrus ivory, and the Victoria and Albert Museum is willing to lend us the Wingfield-Digby Crozier, a spectacular bishop’s crozier head,” said Tove Eivindsen, project manager for the ‘Ivory of the Sea’ exhibition.
This spectacular Crozier head with King Olaf and a bishop made from walrus ivory is making the trip to Norway from the Victoria & Albert Museum. Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The casket is so beautiful that it alone is worth a visit to the exhibition. The richly decorated crozier head made of walrus ivory was probably carved in Norway in the 14th century. One side shows St. Olav, while an unidentified bishop is depicted on the other.
But that is not all – one of our own will also be visiting. The National Museum in Copenhagen is sending a tau cross that originates from Munkholmen in Trondheim.
“This cross was found at Munkholmen but is kept in Denmark, and we can borrow it for the exhibition,” she said.
“We will also be displaying objects made of walrus and whale ivory from our own collections, as well as sculptures from Nidaros Cathedral that are stylistically very similar to the chess pieces from Lewis,” Eivindsen said.
Distant trade
The exhibition is not just about showcasing amazing objects – it also aims to highlight the environmental consequences of the large-scale trade in walrus tusks.
Barrett is also one of the leaders of the ERC-funded 4-OCEANS project, of which the exhibition is part. The project investigates the importance of marine resources for a range of different communities during the last two millennia, and the international collaboration includes Norway, Europe and many other countries around the world.
The walrus tusks came all the way from Iceland and Greenland. They were sold for money, but also used to pay taxes.
“In the 12th century, walrus tusks from the Arctic were sold as far away as Novgorod in Russia, Kyiv in Ukraine, Central Asia and Byzantium,” explained Barrett.
From there, the objects were further exported to other places around the world.
It was easiest to transport the tusks while they were still attached to the skull, otherwise the hollow part of the tusks could easily break. Several of these skulls are available to researchers, who can find out a great deal about where the animals came from and when with the help of DNA samples, isotope analysis and carbon dating.
Walrus tusks. The trade collapsed when walrus populations collapsed. Photo: Åge Hojem, NTNU University Museum
A collapse in trade…
The trade in walrus ivory eventually collapsed – elephant ivory from Africa became more popular, driving prices down.
The Hitrakongen. The figure was found by Hilde Mellemsæther during a walk in the rocks in Bekkvika. It is an old chess piece that is now at the NTNU Science Museum. Photo: Åge Hojem, NTNU University Museum
“A 13th century letter written by the pope exists in which he requests that taxes be paid with money, rather than in the form of walrus tusks,” said Barrett.
However, access to elephant ivory is not the only reason the trade collapsed.
… because the population collapsed
“Walruses became increasingly difficult to find. We see that the animals became smaller as the years went by,” Barrett said.
This is a sign that the walruses were overexploited.
“They used to inhabit a much larger area,” he said.
The species completely disappeared from Iceland and is still very rare there. In Greenland, the collapse contributed to the breakdown of one Norse community.
Greenlandic society suffered the most
Around the year 985, the Norse explorer Erik the Red settled on the island of Greenland, and a permanent Norse settlement was soon established.
“Walrus tusks were pretty much the only things these settlers had to trade with,” Barrett said.
The hunters had to travel further and further north to catch the animals, which were also becoming smaller. Combined with the collapse in prices, this contributed to the disappearance of both the trade and the Norse settlement.
The exhibition is therefore a powerful reminder that the overexploitation of natural resources not only affects other species of animals and plants, but can also impact humans.
