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.

捕猎海洋哺乳动物作为维持生计、贸易和商业收入的来源，已成为整个北大西洋人类文化的重要组成部分。一种重要的猎物物种是大西洋海象（Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus)，肉类、皮肤、脂肪、象牙和骨头受到追捧。不幸的是，对当前海象种群的生物学研究以及人文和社会科学对过去使用和猎杀海象的研究都没有得到很好的整合。学科界限在理解人与海象互动的互惠效应方面留下了空白。新兴的跨学科方法为撰写大西洋海象的历史生态学提供了新的机会。古代 DNA、同位素、过去人口建模、动物考古组合和民族志访谈等方法的整合现在可以用来回答以前难以解决的问题。例如，海象狩猎如何影响人类住区和贸易的变化并受到其影响，对海象种群的累积影响是什么，人为选择压力的程度或改变狩猎制度对特定海象种群的影响？新的合作研究方法应用于已经收藏在博物馆藏品中的丰富的北极考古动物遗骸，为探索人类与动物互动的过去动态提供了独特的机会。