This
carved bow, much
enlarged in this view, is made
of walrus ivory. It gives us a view into how the Inuit lived.
Walrus tusk was only one of three sources of ivory available in the Arctic.
The Narwhal, a small whale often called the "Unicorn of the Sea" has a single,
white, spiral ivory tusk which was exploited. The tusks of mammoths frozen
ten centuries ago are also exploited as they are released sporadically from the
Arctic ice cap.