Present Location of Archeological Sites
Through personal visits, wherever possible, and through information from all available sources, an effort was made to locate and learn the character of as many of the old sites as could be traced. In this endeavor I was aided by many whose services are hereby gratefully acknowledged. Especial thanks are due to Captain Cochran with the officers and men of the Bear, particularly Boatswain H. Berg; to the Lomen brothers and their esteemed father, at Nome; to Father B. La Fortune and the Reverend Baldwin at Nome; to Mr. Sylvester Chance, superintendent of the northwestern district, Bureau of Education; to Mr. Charles D. Brower, trader at Barrow; to Mr. Jim Allen, trader at Wainwright; and to Dr. E. P. Walker, head of the Biological Survey of Alaska. The list to follow, supplemented by maps, will give in brief the name, location, and description of the remains.
The old sites occur, (1) in the form of refuse heaps; (2) as late village sites, smaller or larger areas of ground covered with mostly circular elevations and depressions, with occasionally the wooden remains of igloos or kashims, or only partly ruined dwellings; such remains are the most common; (3) as old village sites in the form of a long irregular ridge mound or of more or less separate heaps; (4) as heaps or "mounds" of individual structures. And as "passed" sites, covered completely by sand or silt and unknown until uncovered through the washing away by the sea or rivers of some of the deposits.
In addition there are the remains of burial grounds which are occasionally marked by small low mounds or hummocks produced by decayed burials that have been more or less assimilated by the tundra. Stony beaches with chips, implements, etc., such as are found off old sites on the Yukon, have not been seen in the region now dealt with in any instance.
The ruined dwellings and communal houses throughout this region, with a few minor exceptions, were of one general type. They were circular, yurta-shaped, semisubterranean structures, with a more or less subterranean tunnel approach, built of hewn driftwood and earth. These dwellings, when the wood decays and the dome falls in, leave characteristic saucer-and-handle-like depressions. But where such dwellings were close, and especially where they were heaped up or superimposed on older ones, the remains, together with the refuse, may form an irregular elevated ridge or a large irregular mound.
On the Diomede Islands the dwellings are built of stone, and ruins of stone houses have been reported to me from inland of the westernmost parts of the Seward Peninsula. Stone dwellings were also known on Norton Sound.
Some of the ridges and heaps, as at Shishmaref, Point Hope, one of the Punuk Islands, etc., are large and may be up to 15 feet and over in depth, but mostly the remains are of moderate to small size. The latter sometimes could easily be confounded with natural formations. The older remains may superficially be indistinguishable even to an experienced observer; and if there is anything still more ancient, it lies somewhere in the old sands and beaches where, except through some fortunate accident, it can not be discovered. Except for their surface, the remains are generally frozen hard, and no excavation is possible except through gradual exposure and the melting of layer after layer by the warmth of the sun or a melting of the ground with water or by some other artificial means.
Some at least of these ruins are rich archeologically. They greatly exceed in this respect a large majority of village ruins and mounds in the interior of the continent. This appears from their gradual excavation by the natives at Barrow, Point Hope, St. Lawrence Island, and elsewhere. The natives have now for many years been selling thousands of articles thus obtained to traders, teachers, and crews of visiting vessels. A regular and growing trade detrimental to archeology is now being carried on in "fossil ivory," which generally consists of pieces showing human workmanship and occasionally includes specimens of rare beauty and importance.
The archeological contents of such old sites as that near Savonga on the St. Lawrence Island, or those at Wales, Point Hope, Barrow, etc., are varied, and in instances exceedingly interesting. They comprise a large variety of objects of stone, ivory, bone, and wood, while in the more superficial layers are also found occasionally glass beads or objects of metal. Some ruins, such as those at Point Hope and Kotzebue, are very rich in stone objects; others, as those at the St. Lawrence Island, are rich in articles of ivory and bone. Pottery is generally scarce. Articles of stone comprise mainly points, knives, adzes, and lamps; those of wood, goggles and masks; of bone, various parts of sleds, a large assortment of snow and meat picks, and scrapers; of ivory, barbed points, harpoons, and lance heads, and a large variety of tools, fetishes, and ceremonial objects; of clay, a few dishes and pots for culinary purposes. Traces of objects made of whalebone or even birch bark may also appear.
The stones used were mainly slate and flint, but there may also be met with quartz, quartzite, and especially the Kobuk "jade." The workmanship is as a rule good to excellent. The arrow points show a number of interesting, not yet fully known, types, the long blade with parallel sides predominating. The stone lamps and rare dishes also need further study. The knives all approach the Asiatic semilunar variety.
The bones and wooden objects and the pottery from this region are fairly well covered by the writings of Ray, Murdoch, Nelson, Rau, Thomas, and others; the masks need further study.
The most interesting archeological specimens from the region of the western Eskimo, however, are some of those in "fossil ivory," the term being applied to walrus ivory that through long lying in the ground has assumed more or less of a pearly yellow, variegated, sepia-brown or black color. These objects are known as yet very imperfectly. They are scarce at and especially north of Point Hope, and again along the west coast south of Norton Sound. Their center of frequency comprises seemingly the St. Lawrence Island, some parts of the Asiatic coast, the Diomedes, and parts of the Seward Peninsula. But they occur at least up to Point Hope, while west of Bering Strait they are said to appear as far as the river Kolyma.
Figure 12.—Conventionalized design from fossil ivory specimen shown in Plate 19
Some of the objects in fossilized ivory show the well-known Eskimo art, with geometrical design. But besides these there occur here and there beautiful specimens, harpoon heads, figures, needle cases, etc., which are of the finest workmanship and which both in form and design differ from the prevailing Eskimo types. They are examples of high aboriginal art; and their engraved decorative lines are not geometrical but beautifully curvilinear. (Fig. 12.) The accompanying illustrations of specimens I succeeded in obtaining from different sources will show the nature of this art. (Pls. 19-26.) Isolated specimens of this nature have been secured before by Nelson, Neuman, Sverdrup, Stefánsson, and others. Jenness in 1926 dug out a few from the old sites at Wales. There are several in the Museum of the American Indian in New York. But the largest and best collection of these remarkable articles is now that of the United States National Museum.[57]
The large fossil ivory figure (20.3 cm. maximum length, pl. 26) collected by Mr. Carl Lomen and now in the National Museum is of special interest. It comes from the Asiatic side. It is a handsomely made piece, belonging in all probability to the high fossil ivory culture. Its peculiarity is the bi-bevel face, a face made by two planes rising to a median ridge. It is so far a unique specimen of its kind. But with the aid of Mr. H. W. Krieger, curator of ethnology, United States National Museum, we found similar bi-beveled faces in wooden figures from northeast Asia, in wooden Eskimo masks from the Yukon, and in wooden ceremonial figures from Panama. The latter are shown herewith. (Pl. 27.) The whole presents evidently a nice problem for the archeologist and student of culture.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 19
Terminal Piece of a Lance or Harpoon. Northern Bering Sea
Black, high natural polish. Most beautiful piece of the fossil ivory art. (A. H., 1926, U.S.N.M.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 20
Fossil Ivory Specimens Showing the Old Curvilinear Designs. Northern Bering Sea
(A. H. coll., 1926, U.S.N.M.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 21
Objects Showing the Old Fossil Ivory Art. Northern Bering Sea
(U.S.N.M., Nos. 1 and 3, coll. A. H., 1926.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 22
Fossil Ivory Needle Cases and Spear Heads, Northern Bering Sea, Showing Fine Workmanship
(A. H. coll., 1926, U.S.N.M.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 23
a, Small, finely made objects in fossil ivory and stone (the head), from the ruins at Port Hope (A. H. coll., 1926.)
b, Old fossil ivory objects, northern Bering Sea. The article to the right is almost classic in form; it is decorated on both sides. (A. H. coll., 1926, U.S.N.M.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 24
Fossil Ivory Combs. Upper Bering Sea
(A. H. coll., 1926)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 25
Fossil Ivory Objects From the Upper Bering Sea Region. Transitional Art
(Museum of the Agricultural College, Fairbanks, Alaska.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 26
Old Black Finely Carved Fossil Ivory Figure, From the Northeastern Asiatic Coast
(Loan to U.S.N.M. by Mr. Carl Lomen.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 27
Wooden Figurines From a Medicine Lodge, Choco Indians, Panama
(U.S.N.M. colls.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 28
Top: Manche de poignard en ivoire, avec sculpture représentant un renne. Montastruc (Peccadeau de l'Isle; in de Quatrefages (A.), Hommes fossiles, Paris, 1884, p. 50)
Left: Two beautiful knives of fossil mammoth ivory lately made by a Seward Peninsula Eskimo. (Gift to the U.S.N.M. by A. H., 1926.)
Right: Two old ceremonial Mexican obsidian knives.
I had further the good fortune to secure, through the kindness of Reverend Baldwin, two handsome and remarkable knives from fossil mammoth ivory. These knives were said to have been made recently by the Eskimo of the Seward Peninsula. They are shown in Plate 28. They each bear on the handle a nicely carved crouching animal figure. With them are shown, somewhat more reduced, two probably ceremonial knives from Old Mexico; and also the handle of a late palaeolithic poignard from France, illustrated by De Quatrefages.[58] Regarding the latter form we read the following in Mortillet:[59] "D'autres poignées de poignard, faites dans des données pratiques et artistiques analogues, ont été recueillies dans diverses collections. Les plus remarquables sont deux poignées en ivoire trouvées par Peccadeau de l'Isle, à Bruniquel. L'une se rattachait à la lame, comme dans la pièce précédente, par le train de derrière; l'autre, au contraire, par la tête." Knives with similar crouching animal figures on the handle are being made by the King Islanders.
Here, evidently, is one more interesting problem for the archeologists.
The art shown by these objects, the conventionalization, and especially the decorations, appear to show affinity on one hand to deeper eastern Asia and on the other to those of the American northwest coast and even lower. This may prove to mean much or little. The fact that these specimens establish beyond question is that at one time and up to a few hundreds of years ago there existed in the lands of the northern Bering Sea native art superior to that existing there later and at the present, and comparable with the best native Siberian or American.
The meaning of this fact seems to me to be of importance. The evidence suggests, aside from other things, that American cultural developments may after all not have been purely local or even American, but that they may, in part at least, have been initiated or carried from Asia. In view of these and other recent developments it seems rational to consider that America may have been peopled by far eastern Asiatic groups that not merely carried with them differences in language and physique but also in some cases relatively high cultural developments. But these for the present are mere hypotheses.
There is no definite indication as yet that the people of the high fossil ivory art in the northern Bering Sea and neighboring parts were any others than the ancestors of the Eskimo. The skeletal remains from these regions, as will be shown later, rather support this view. But those ancestors may not yet have represented the characteristic present type of the people. Here, too, nothing definite can be said before the results of sufficient scientific excavations become available.