458 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 3 



five old villages which had been abandoned successively one after 

 another, stratigraphic studies were made which revealed for St. 

 Lawrence Island a cultural cross-section extending from the present 

 time back through the oldest known stage of Eskimo culture. A 

 brief resume of the Gambell excavations will be given below with 

 particular emphasis on those features which were found to have 

 undergone significant modifications, principally house types, har- 

 poon heads, art styles, etc. 



Four of the old villages were situated on a broad gravel plain, 

 which extends for three-quarters of a mile westward from the base 

 of the Gambell cape or plateau — Cape Chibukak (Sevuokuk). These 

 old villages, now only low grass-covered middens, are known to the 

 Eskimos at Gambell as " Miyowagh " (the climbing-up place) from 

 its location at the foot of the plateau; " levoghiyoq " (place of the 

 walrus); and " Seklowaghyaget " (many caches); the fourth and 

 most recent site was merely a continuation of the latter and bore no 

 particular name. For convenience these four old sites are here desig- 

 nated as D, C, B, and A, respectively. 



Excavations proved the relative antiquity of the sites to have 

 been in the order named, D had been established when the Old 

 Bering Sea culture was at its height, for the lower levels of the mid- 

 den yielded the complicated harpoon heads and elaborate art style 

 known to have been characteristic of that period. But the material 

 from the upper levels of D showed that during the later occupancy 

 of the village important cultural modifications had set in, resulting 

 in the decline of the rich Old Bering Sea ornamentation and its de- 

 generation into the simpler art of the Punuk period. The next oldest 

 site, C, proved to be a pure site of the Punuk period, with no trace 

 of Old Bering Sea art or harpoon types. B was likewise of Punuk 

 age but of a later phase, for harpoon heads from the upper levels in- 

 cluded a type which at the latest site. A, was found to have evolved 

 directly into the modern St. Lawrence type. The presence of a 

 few glass beads and pieces of metal at A showed that this site could 

 hardly have been more than 200 years old. 



The cultural sequence revealed by these four old sites, although 

 clear enough in itself and unusually complete in detail, still left 

 unanswered one important question. This was the identification of 

 the type forms of the Old Bering Sea culture, that is, the common 

 implement types aside from the decorated objects. It might be con- 

 sidered that the implements from the lower levels of D, where only 

 Old Bering Sea art was found, were the types of the Old Bering Sea 

 culture. Although such an assumption would appear to be reason- 

 able, a degree of uncertainty would be present owing to the fact that 



