520 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 6 



Baikal and northern Europe. On the basis of these resemblances the 

 present writer has suggested that Eskimo culture was of Old World 

 origin, its earliest roots stemming from the Mesolithic cultures of 

 Eurasia (Collins, 1943, 1951). The T 1 artifacts, which include addi- 

 tional types resembling those of the Mesolithic, as well as those of the 

 Denbigh Flint Complex, would seem to lend weight to the hypothesis. 

 In drawing this conclusion it is recognized of course that the T 1 site 

 is thousands of years later than the Old World Mesolithic. It is 

 equally true, on the other hand, that established culture patterns may 

 persist over long periods of time. The Dorset people, in the isolation 

 of the Arctic, may have perpetuated Mesolithic techniques and tradi- 

 tions that had long since faded away in the Old World. 



The early Dorset Eskimos who lived at the T 1 site were a hunting 

 people, like all Eskimos, and sea mammals were their principal source 

 of food. The village they occupied 2,000 years ago is now half a mile 

 back from the shore, an inconvenient location for people who were 

 dependent on the sea for their livelihood. However, when the site was 

 occupied geographical conditions in the Hudson Bay region were con- 

 siderably different from those of today. As a consequence of the post- 

 glacial marine submergence the sea level stood higher in relation to 

 the land, so that the T 1 plateau was much nearer the sea than at 

 present. 



Though we uncovered a number of hearths where the people had 

 done their cooking, we could find no traces of dwellings of any kind. 

 They might possibly have lived in snow houses, which would have left 

 no trace, but this seems unlikely as we found no snow knives which 

 Eskimos always use in constructing these winter dwellings; moreover, 

 the large number of bird bones in the refuse suggested that the site 

 had been occupied in summer as well as winter. If the climate 2,000 

 years ago was milder than at present, for which there is some geologi- 

 cal evidence, the people could have lived there the year around in light 

 skin-covered tents. Whatever the climate may have been, we can be 

 sure that the early Dorset people wore tailored skin clothing, for bone 

 needles, which could only have been used for sewing skins, were ex- 

 ceedingly common in the midden deposits. The skins used were prob- 

 ably those of seals and birds or, less likely, foxes. 



In order to learn as much as possible of their food habits we kept 

 every animal bone that was excavated. These were counted and when- 

 ever possible identified as to species. The majority of the mammal 

 bones, such as ribs, vertebrae, and foot bones, were too difficult to iden- 

 tify in the field, but the skulls, jaws, and body bones such as scapulae, 

 pelves, and limb bones presented no great difficulty. In 1954 over 

 25,000 mammal bones were excavated at T 1, of which over 3,000 were 

 identified, and almost as many were obtained from the excavations 

 at the Sadlermiut site (pi. 12, A) . 



