72 Alaskan Science Conference 



variability is seen most clearly in the head form. The inter- 

 gradation is apparent when each of these isolates is compared 

 with its neighbors rather than with Eskimos hundreds of miles 

 removed. In effect, each of these Eskimo groups is most similar 

 to its neighbors. To understand their relationships to each 

 other it is necessary to acquire the genetic and anthropometric 

 data for each group. At present there is actually very little data 

 available for the southern Eskimos, and even less for the neigh- 

 boring Indian populations. 



The importance of knowing the contemporary populations 

 in order to augment the information gained from the skeletal 

 populations recovered by archaeology is seen in the discovery 

 of the two breeding isolates of the Aleuts. Though it has long 

 been customary to speak of the Aleuts as a single, homogeneous 

 population, it was evident from the reports of early Russian 

 observers that there were distinguishable differences between 

 eastern and western Aleuts. The previous finding of two 

 skeletal populations by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka also indicated the 

 probability that traces of the early population of Paleo-Aleuts 

 would be found in the western Aleutians. An anthropometric 

 study of living Aleuts revealed a number of differences between 

 the Aleuts of Attu and Atka, forming one breeding isolate, and 

 those of the eastern islands forming another isolate. Some of 

 these differences corresponded, in the case of the western Aleuts 

 to the Paleo-Aleut skeletal population, and in the case of the 

 eastern Aleuts to the Neo-Aleut skeletal population. The fact 

 that the Neo-Aleuts had not reached the western islands in 

 sufficiently great numbers to obliterate the previous Paleo- 

 Aleut population is in consonance with the linguistic, evidence 

 of the recency of the westward movement of the dialects. So 

 far as the Aleutians are concerned, one of the most fruitful 

 studies would be the examination of the skeletal populations 

 of each island to detect the island variations from east to west 

 in the Aleut populations. Similarly, studies of the various 

 Eskimo and Indian populations of southern Alaska, with par- 

 ticular reference to their geographical divisions, may be ex- 



