A STRANGE GROUP OF ESKIMO NEAR POINT BARROW
In 1917-1919, in the course of the John Wanamaker Expedition for the University Museum, Philadelphia, W. B. Van Valin, with the help of Charles Brower, the well-known local trader and collector, excavated near Barrow a group of six tumuli, which proved in the opinion of Van Valin to be so many old igloos, containing plentiful cultural as well as skeletal material. The collections eventually reached the museum, but due to lack of facilities they were in the main never unpacked.
I heard of this material first from Mr. Brower, with whom I sailed in 1926 from Barrow southward, and later with Dr. J. Alden Mason I saw the collection still in the original boxes, at the University Museum. In April of this year the skeletal remains were transferred to the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, and after their transfer I obtained the permission of Dr. Milton J. Greenman, director of the Wistar Institute, to examine the material, which was of importance to him in connection with his own collections from Barrow and southward. A due acknowledgment for the privilege is hereby rendered to both Doctor Greenman and Doctor Mason.
The study proved one of unexpected and uncommon interest. The material was found to consist of two separate lots. The first of these consisted of a considerable number of brown colored, more or less complete skeletons with skulls, proceeding from the "igloos"; while the second lot comprised a series of whitened isolated skulls, without other skeletal parts and mostly even without the component lower jaws, gathered on the tundra near Barrow. At first sight, also, the skulls of the two groups were seen to present important differences.
The "igloo" crania, while plainly pure Eskimo, proved to be of a decidedly exceptional nature for this location. The skulls, in brief, were not of the general western Eskimo type, but reminded at once strongly of the skulls from Greenland and Labrador. And they were exceptionally uniform, showing that they belonged to a definite and distinct Eskimo group.
After writing of this to Doctor Mason, he kindly sent me a copy of the notes and observations on the discovery of the material by W. B. Van Valin, who was in charge of the excavation. The detailed notes will soon be published by Doctor Mason. The main information they convey is as follows:
The excavations by Van Valin date from 1918-19. They were made in six large "heaps," approximately 8 miles southwest of Barrow and about 1,000 yards back from the beach on the tundra. Two of the heaps were on the northern and four on the southern side of a ravine or draw formed by a drain flowing from inland to the sea. The Eskimo at Barrow knew nothing about these remains or their people.
Each of the heaps inclosed what in the excavator's opinion was an "igloo" made of driftwood and earth; and all contained evidently undisturbed human skeletons. The total number of bodies of all ages was counted as 83, and they ranged from infants to old people. There were many bird and other skins (for covers and clothing), and numerous utensils. The hair on the bodies was in general "black as a raven." Most of the bodies lay on "beds" of moss or "ground willows," or rough-hewn boards. There was no indication of any violence or sudden death. The bodies at places were in three levels, one above the other; but there was but moderate uniformity in the orientation of the bodies. There were found with the burials no traces of dogs (though there were some sled runners), and no metal, glass, pipes, labrets, nets, soapstone lamps or dog harness; but there were bows and arrows, bolas, and ordinary pottery. The cultural objects, Doctor Mason wrote me, resemble in a smaller measure those of the older Bering Sea, to a larger extent those of the old northern or "Thule" culture. There were some jadeite axes, indicating a direct or indirect contact with Kotzebue Sound and the Kobuk River.
Some of the bearskin coverings were "as bright and silvery" as the day the bear was killed (Van Valin); and the frozen bodies were evidently in a state of preservation approaching that of natural mummies.