524 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



The Nayavah was a trim little vessel, 40 feet long and powered by 

 a gasoline motor. Our quarters were in the tiny cabin in the bow, 

 which was large enough for three men but rather crowded for four 

 (pl.l2,B). 



About an hour out of Native Point we encountered dense fog and 

 heavy fields of ice. With visibility of 100 yards or less we slowed 

 down to half speed, about 5 miles an hour. Sandy was now forced 

 to follow a zig-zag course, steering with his foot as he stood up in 

 the little wheelhouse peering ahead in search for safe openings among 

 the ice floes. By midnight we were out of the ice but the fog con- 

 tinued until we finally anchored at 2 a. m. When the fog lifted later 

 in the morning we found we were about 2 miles offshore from Coats 

 Island, about midway of the north coast. 



The Nayavah then headed eastward and a few hours later was 

 approaching the north end of little Bencas Island when we saw 

 four old house ruins on the opposite Coats Island shore. We moved 

 in closer and went ashore in the canoe to investigate the ruins, pre- 

 pared to stay all day. The houses were not the only evidence of 

 human activity at this abandoned settlement. Between the houses 

 and the beach we found an array of stone structures — caches, cairns, 

 and a number of others difficult to identify as to function. The most 

 impressive of these stone structures were two well-preserved cairns 

 of a peculiar "mushroom" shape (pi. 13, A), a type which had been 

 reported previously only from Sadlermiut sites on Southampton 

 Island. This suggested at once that the site was Sadlermiut. 



We lost no time in getting to work. Emerson and Taylor began 

 excavating in House 3, the largest of the group, their first task being 

 to remove the heavy fill of sod that had accumulated in the sunken 

 interior. Ostroff photographed the houses and other structures and 

 then began to excavate in House 4, the westernmost of the group. I 

 began collecting samples of the grasses, mosses, and flowering plants 

 that grew around the site, and made notes, measurements, and sketches 

 of the houses and other stone features. I also made a careful but futile 

 search of the surrounding area for traces of Dorset occupation. 



House 3 was a 3-room structure, built somewhat in the shape of 

 a cloverleaf (pi. 13, B). It had an over-all width of 22 feet and 

 measured 15 feet from entrance to rear wall. It had a carefully con- 

 structed floor of stone slabs and four sleeping platforms, also made 

 of stones, rising about a foot and a half above the floor. The roof, 

 still partly intact, consisted of large flat slabs resting on stone up- 

 rights. The walls were made of stones piled one above the other. 

 Blocks of sod were banked up along the outside of the walls and over 

 the roof. The house was entered by means of a narrow passageway 

 10 feet long and 30 inches wide, at the outer end of which was a small 



