Of pottery I have seen no example above Anvik, but this can not be taken as evidence of its absence above that point. At Anvik, Bonasila, and farther down the pottery is like that of the western Eskimo. It is coarse ware, hand shaped, and of rather poor quality. It consists of small round bowls to fairly large, more or less conical, jars. It is never painted but is frequently decorated with thumb marks and especially with grooves running parallel with the border.
Ivory implements were encountered first at Bonasila and consisted of a few fine long points barbed on one side, looking like those of the Eskimo and probably of Eskimo origin. There were also a few tools of bone, generally scrapers.
Russian beads, especially those of the large blue variety, are occasionally encountered, usually singly or in small numbers, especially in some spots.
A unique archeological specimen from the lower middle portion of the Yukon Valley is the large stone dish obtained by Mr. Müller, the trader at Kaltag. (See p. [34].)
Besides these random specimens, other cultural objects are found along the Yukon in connection with old burials. These consist of an occasional wooden dish, sharpening or polishing stones, rarely a figurine (doll?) in ivory, Russian snuffboxes, fire sticks, dishes of birch bark, etc. The cullings in this field are quite poor, but there has been no excavation of older burials that have been assimilated by the tundra and lie now in the earth beneath.
The archeology of the old habitation sites, on the other hand, particularly perhaps on the Shageluk and between Holy Cross and Marshall, is decidedly promising and invites careful excavation.
Location of Villages and Sites on the Yukon
Especial attention was given to the location of the numerous dead villages and older sites along the Yukon. This task was found, in most instances, fairly easy with villages that "died" since the Russo-American occupation, for mostly they still show plain traces and are generally remembered by the old Indians or even old white settlers. Their precise allocation on a map, however, is not always easy or certain. As to the prehistoric sites the search is much more difficult and depends largely on chance discoveries.
The villages still existing give only a partial clue, in many cases, to the old, even where these bore the same name, for on occasions a village changed its location, though remaining in the same general vicinity and retaining the same name. Thus there existed at different times apparently, between the earliest contacts with whites and the present, at least 2 Nuklukhayets, 2 Lowdens, 3 Nulatos, 3 Kaltags, 2 Anviks, etc.; besides which there were differences in recording the names and changes due to efforts at translation of the native term, or an application by the whites of a new name, often that of a trader or settler, to an old site.