Editing Walrus ivory

{{Short description|Material from the tusks of a walrus}}
[[Image:Walrus2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Pacific Walrus at Cape Peirce]]
[[Image:Ivorymasks.jpg|thumb|right|Ceremonial ivory [[masks]] produced by [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] in [[Alaska]]]]
[[File:Chess, walrus ivory (18th c., Russia, GIM).jpg|thumb|A walrus ivory chess set, mid-18th century, Russia]]
[[Image:PolarBearWalrusTuskCarving.jpg|thumb|right|Engraved walrus tusk depicting [[polar bears]] attacking walrus, dating from the 1940s in Chukotka ([[Magadan]] Regional Museum).]]

'''Walrus ivory''', also known as '''morse''',<ref>Williamson, 9, an archaic term for the animal, but which survived much longer as a term for the [[ivory]], though it too is now old-fashioned.</ref> comes from two modified upper canines of a [[walrus]]. The [[tusk]]s grow throughout life and may, in the Pacific walrus, attain a length of one metre.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nasoori|first=A|date=2020|title=Tusks, the extra-oral teeth|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archoralbio.2020.104835|journal=Archives of Oral Biology|volume=117|doi=10.1016/j.archoralbio.2020.104835|pmid=32668361|s2cid=220585014}}</ref> Walrus teeth are  commercially carved and traded; the average walrus tooth has a rounded, irregular peg shape and is approximately 5&nbsp;cm in length.

The tip of a walrus tusk has a [[tooth enamel]] coating which is worn away during the animal's youth. Fine longitudinal cracks, which appear as radial cracks in cross-section, originate in the [[cementum]] and penetrate the [[dentine]]. These cracks can be seen throughout the length of the tusk. Whole cross-sections of walrus tusks are generally oval with widely spaced indentations. The dentine is composed of two types: primary dentine and secondary (often called osteodentine). Primary dentine has a classical ivory appearance. Secondary dentine is marble or oatmeal-like.

==Carving==
Walrus-[[ivory carving]] and engraving has been an important folk art for people of the [[Arctic]] since prehistoric times, among them the [[Inuit]], [[Inupiaq]] and [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] of Greenland and North America and the [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]] and [[Koryaks|Koryak]] of [[Russia]]. The Chukchi and Bering Sea Yupik in particular continue to produce ivory. The folk art of walrus-ivory carving has been popular in European [[Russia]] since the Middle Ages, with notable schools of walrus-ivory carving in [[Kholmogory, Arkhangelsk Oblast|Kholmogory]] and [[Tobolsk]]. During [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] times, several walrus carving [[collectives]] were established in villages in [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Chukotka]], notably [[Uelen]]. International trade is, however, somewhat restricted by the [[CITES|Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES)]].

[[File:BLW Reliquary Cross trimmed.jpg|thumb|[[Reliquary Cross (VAM)|Reliquary Cross]], 10th c]]

In the [[Early Medieval]] period, when supplies of [[elephant ivory]] reaching Europe reduced or ceased after the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]], walrus ivory began to be traded by [[Vikings]] into northern Europe as a replacement. King [[Alfred the Great]] of [[Wessex]] records that he was presented with walrus tusks by the Viking trader [[Ohthere of Hålogaland]] in about 890, which may mark the start of this trade.<ref>Webster, 158</ref> Nearly all [[Anglo-Saxon art#Ivory carving|ivories in Anglo-Saxon art]] use walrus, and most northern European ivories of the 11th and 12th centuries. Initially large walrus herds were found much further south than is the case today, and it is likely that their hunting for ivory greatly impacted on populations. Around 1160 northern European ivory carving was greatly reduced, which may well be because the material was less easily available. Around 1260, at the start of the Gothic period, elephant ivory began to reach Europe again, and the industry greatly increased.<ref>Williamson, 15, 17-18</ref> The Norse also carved items in walrus ivory, notably the [[Lewis chessmen]].

==See also==
*[[Ivory trade]]
*[[Scrimshaw]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[[Leslie Webster (art historian)|Webster, Leslie]], ''Anglo-Saxon Art'', 2012, British Museum Press, {{ISBN|9780714128092}}
*Nasoori, A, (2020) Tusks, the extra-oral teeth, Archives of Oral Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archoralbio.2020.104835 PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ux2OWcKU67O-4v0vHeflljrh6lZkrekG/view?usp=sharing 

*Williamson, Paul. ''An Introduction to Medieval Ivory Carvings'', 1982, [[Office of Public Sector Information|HMSO]] for [[V&A Museum]], {{ISBN|0112903770}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Walrus ivory}}
{{cite web |url=http://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18312953/ |title=Pipe #1926-37-61 |author=Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum |access-date=10 October 2012 |publisher=Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum}}

[[Category:Ivory]]
[[Category:Walruses]]