454 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950 



of the oldest skulls from northern Europe, from a Mesolithic site on 

 Lake Ladoga near Leningrad, have quite thick tympanic plates 

 (Inostrantzev, 1882). Moreover, one of these skulls shows a strik- 

 ing resemblance to the generalized Alaskan Eskimo type in the shape 

 of the face and the contour of the vault. It may be a point of some 

 significance that the thickened tympanic plate and the mandibular 

 and palatine tori, which are more characteristic of the Eskimo than 

 of any other race, are found to a comparable degree elsewhere only 

 among prehistoric and early historic peoples in regions where Eskimo 

 cultural resemblances also occur. 



LANGUAGE 



The Eskimo language is divided into two branches, Eskimo proper 

 and Aleutian. The main branch includes the various Eskimo dialects 

 spoken from south Alaska eastward to east Greenland. The Aleutian 

 language differs so sharply from the other Eskimo dialects that for 

 a long time its Eskimo aflanity was questioned. However, it is now 

 recognized as being remotely related to Eskimo, just as is the Aleut 

 physical type and culture. 



Within the Eskimo group itself the greatest linguistic differentia- 

 tion is found in Siberia and south and west Alaska, from Prince Wil- 

 liam Sound north to Norton Sound. Here there are several quite dis- 

 tinctive dialects that differ considerably from those spoken by the 

 other Eskimos. Beginning at Bering Strait we find a different situa- 

 tion, for from this point eastward to Greenland and Labrador the dia- 

 lects are mutually intelligible. The Alaskan Eskimo dialects north of 

 Norton Sound are actually closer to the dialects of Greenland and 

 Labrador than to those of the adjacent Yukon region. It is difficult 

 to believe that such remarkable linguistic uniformity over so wide an 

 area could have persisted for any great length of time. Eather, it is 

 a strong indication of fairly recent contacts and intercommunication 

 among the northern Eskimos. Perhaps the best explanation is to 

 be found in the movements of the Thule culture. The uniformity 

 was probably first established when the Thule Eskimos moved east 

 from Alaska to Canada and Greenland, and then still further strength- 

 ened by a return movement to northern Alaska within the past few 

 centuries, a supposition for which there is also considerable archeologi- 

 cal evidence. 



In addition to the greater linguistic diversity in south and west 

 Alaska, the dialects there and in Siberia are of a more archaic char- 

 acter than those in the Central regions and Greenland. Thalbitzer, 

 Jenness, Bogoras, and Sapir are all in agreement in viewing this as 

 indicating that the probable center of Eskimo dispersion was in Alaska 

 or Siberia. 



