BERING SEA AECHEOLOGY — COLLINS 459 



both Old Bering Sea and Punuk art occurred in the same midden. 

 Tiiere woiikl always bo the possibility, therefore, that an object when 

 found might not occupy its original position, owing to disturbances 

 resulting from sloughing or from excavations for houses. 



This deficiency was fortunately removed by the discovery of a 

 site of pure Old Bering Sea culture. On the lower slope of the 

 mountain and immediately back of D we found, almost by accident, 

 a buried site, E, the decorated objects of which, from top to bottom, 

 were all of the Old Bering Sea style. The presence of an old village 

 at this spot had not been suspected by the Eskimos, although the 

 trail to the mountain top which they and their ancestors had followed 

 for generations passed directly over it. There was visible none of 

 the refuse conmionly seen about old Eskimo villages, no projecting 

 bones or timbers, no elevations or depi-essions. The site was com- 

 pletely covered over with sod, moss, and stones and in appearance w' as 

 a normal section of the mountain side. A single small patch of refuse 

 Avhich had become exposed in a rock crevice led to its discovery. 

 Excavation showed that the refuse extended over an area (though 

 possibly not continuous) of several hundred feet, and reached a total 

 depth of 3 feet. It was ajoparont, however, that the site had been 

 disturbed in at least one place by a rock slide and some of the surface 

 had no doubt been removed by erosion. 



ART AND HAIIPOON HEADS 



The style of ornamentation found at E was Old Bering Sea, but it 

 differed from most of the previously known examples of this art in 

 being of a somewhat more generalized stamp (pi. 3; pi. 6, 1-4). 

 Most of the lines and circles were less perfectly executed and the 

 designs as a whole lacked the elaboration and finish that they later 

 attained. 



On plate 4 are shown examples of the later style of Old Bering 

 Sea art from D. The overlapping " animal heads ", which were 

 found in three instances at the oldest site, E, were retained at D 

 and developed into such artistic productions as figures 1, 2, 6, and 7 

 of plate 4; the more common small circles between converging or 

 parallel lines (pi. 3, figs. 1, 3, 5) were also retained (pi. 4, fig. 2). 

 On the other hand the numerous radiating lines and rather carelessly 

 applied shorter detached lines, which occurred at E (pi. 3, figs. 7-8, 

 10-12), were not incorporated in the later and more develo])ed Old 

 Bering Sea patterns of D. 



On plate 5 are shown 10 objects from D, C, and B, decorated in 

 the Punuk style. The earliest examples of Punuk art at Gambell 

 were found in the later sections of D, overlying the Old Bering Sea 

 strata. Early Punuk art employed lightly incised lines and spurs 



