The Northern Shore of the Seward Peninsula
This shore is but little known to science. It is dangerous of approach to any except small boats. The only place that could be visited by me was Shishmaref, a good-sized thriving Eskimo village, on both sides of which along the sea are remains of old sites with burials. The more important old settlement was that to the east of the village. Here are found large and extensive heaps, the tops of which have recently been leveled for fox cages, the whole site belonging, regrettably, to a newly established fox farm. It is an old site, though probably occupied up to white man's times, and is doubtless of some importance. Excavations would still be possible, as the bulk of the remains is intact; and though the surface skeletal material has been removed (part saved for our collections), there are indications of surface burials (assimilations by the tundra) in the ground.
Between Wales and Shishmaref are several dead sites, as shown on the map, and some of them, judging from the information obtained, are of promise. One of these settlements, "Tapkhaig," was evidently still a living village at the time of Zagoskin (1840).
Northeast and east of Shishmaref the coast is known even less than that to the west. A few miles off Shishmaref I saw from a distance—the boat could not approach nearer—what to all appearances was a large ridge of ruins, and from various maps and other sources information was obtained of several other sites, all of which represent former villages. From one of these sites on the Bucknell River Mr. Carl Lomen secured a fine piece of fossil ivory carving, and the site is said to be of much promise. The whole coast is a virgin field for archeology.
143. Mitletukeruk.—Old village site. Visited by Collins, 1928; collections.
144. Tapkhaig or Ekpik.—Old village site, originally shown in Zagoskin's general map.
145. Sinrazat.—Old site.
146. Karatuk or Shishmaref.—Living village, with ruins on both sides. Visited by A. H.; collections.
147. Kividlow.—Old site.
148. Old site reported.
148a. Siuk.—Old site.
149. Old site (?).
150. Paapkuk.—Old site.
151. Deering.—Recent settlement, but old sites probable in vicinity.
151a. Kualing.—Old village, now long dead, shown by Zagoskin. (General map.)
Figure 24.—Eskimo villages and sites, Seward Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound, and Arctic Coast, to Kevalina
152. Kiwalik.—A village at mouth of river of same name.
153. Dead villages reported on the two promontories; promising archeologically. On Elephant Point Nelson saw the site of an old village "with about 15 pits marking the locations of the houses." (Eskimo of Bering Strait, 264.)
153a. Buckland River. Camp sites.
153b. Old village site.
154. Old whaling place, occupied summers only. (S. Chance.)
155. Selawik.—Old village. Old igloos and camps at various places in the Selawik Basin. (S. Chance.)
156. Camps. (S. Chance.)
156a. Chilivik.—A village, now long dead, shown on the general map of Zagoskin.
157. Fish camps. (A. H.)