Narwhals or Unicorns? Exotic Animals as Material Culture in Medieval Europe

Abstract

Animals from distant lands fired the imaginations of people living in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. This is attested by a considerable wealth of iconographic and written material which has been explored from many perspectives, providing valuable insights into medieval western conceptualizations of the fringes of the known world and the otherness of exotica. However, the physical remains of non-indigenous species – both those recovered from archaeological contexts and extant in private collections – have generally been examined in isolation and rarely incorporated into a broader framework exploring the reception and utility of exotica. This article offers a new perspective on the topic by focusing on the zoological identity of non-indigenous animal body parts as ‘material culture’.

Sharks in the jungle: real and imagined sea monsters of the Maya

“…5), or carefully transported sets of sharp, serrated jaws—combined with legends and interpretations exchanged along the same networks that brought physical marine exotica from coastal to inland Maya communities. In an analogous example from Medieval Europe, Pluskowski (2004: 300–305) describes how narwhal tusks from Greenland were appropriated as unicorn horns in the British Isles, Scandinavia and the Baltic. The tusks were significant objects of trade, but knowledge of their origins was limited to mercantile and courtly circles, further obscured by each successive exchange.…”

The Warrior and the Cat: A Re-Evaluation of the Roles of Domestic Cats in Viking Age Scandinavia

“…The classic explanation for the appearance of such an uncommon grave good would be as a symbol of high status (see Leifsson 2018:316) due to the exclusive and exotic character of cats as a new and extraordinary element of the Old Norse fauna (see Pluskowski 2004). This interpretation is supported by the increasing frequency of cats in settlement contexts during the Viking Age and, accordingly, also in average burials.…”

The social construction of the value of wildlife: A green cultural criminological perspective

“…Besides live animals, items containing parts of exotic animals became attractive objects of trade, especially for royals and elites (Pluskowski, 2004). During the Middle Ages, large-scale habitat degradation for agriculture threatened the population numbers of wild animals, making wildlife more valuable (Kalof, 2007).…”