ARCHEOLOGICAL WORK IN ARCTIC CANADA — COLLINS 519 



lar side blades with shallow flaking on one or both surfaces (pi. 8, q, 

 r) ; spalls struck from the lateral edges of prepared cores or of chipped 

 blades (pi. 9, i-l) ; and knives made from microblades and heavier 

 flakes, having one edge sharp for cutting and the opposite edge thick, 

 like the back of a penknife, to serve as a rest for the finger (pi. 9, m-v) . 

 The first two are types that occur at Mesolithic and early Neolithic 

 sites in Mongolia and Siberia (Maringer, 1950, pi. 30, figs. 1, 4, 5; pi. 

 25, figs. 7, 8 ; Okladnikov, 1950, fig. 62) . The third type is one that was 

 similar in function, though not in method of manufacture, to the 

 "backed" blades so characteristic of the Old World Mesolithic. Plate 

 8, /i, is an unusual flake blade, the under or bulbar surface of which 

 is carefully retouched along the base, lower right edge and upper end, 

 while the outer surface, illustrated, is unmodified. In form and tech- 

 nique this blade is closely similar to some of those from Mesolithic 

 sites (Khina period) in the region of Lake Baikal and the Angara 

 River (Okladnikov, 1950, figs. 16, 17) . 



There was still another reason for believing that the T 1 material 

 may have had Mesolithic affinities and that it represented an early or 

 formative stage of Dorset culture. Microblades — narrow rectangular 

 or pointed flakes struck from prepared cores (pi. 9, a-e) — and deli- 

 cate spall implements (pi. 9, z) were present in large numbers at T 1, 

 and several burins (pi. 8, x) were also found. Burins, spalls, and 

 microblades are among the implements most characteristic of the 

 Denbigh Flint Complex recently discovered by Dr. J. L. Giddings 

 on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska (Giddings, 1951). The Denbigh 

 culture is at least 4,000 years old and probably older, and it has strong 

 connections with the Old World Mesolithic. Though older than any 

 known stage of Eskimo culture, there are strong indications that the 

 Denbigh Complex was one of the sources from which the Dorset cul- 

 ture was derived (Collins, 1951, 1953 ; Harp, 1953) . 



More conclusive evidence of the age of T 1 finally came from radio- 

 carbon analysis, the newly developed technique which makes it pos- 

 sible to date organic materials by measuring the amount of carbon 14 

 which they contain. Pieces of charred mammal bones from one of 

 the test cuts were submitted to the University of Pennsylvania Car- 

 bon-14 Laboratory and were found to be 2,060 ±230 years old. This 

 may be taken as a minimum date, for grass roots had penetrated even 

 the deepest parts of the T 1 middens, and thus could have contributed 

 an unknown amount of more recent carbon to the bone fragments. 



The T 1 finds are also of interest in connection with a larger prob- 

 lem, that of the origin and relationships of Eskimo culture as a whole. 

 Close resemblances have previously been observed between the tools 

 and techniques of the earliest Eskimos and those of the early Neolithic 

 and Mesolithic peoples of Eurasia, particularly in the region of Lake 



412575—57 84 



