20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



lines and spurs, while in e there are more circles on the barb than are 

 necessary to balance the design. 



These harpoon heads are intermediate in type between those bearing 

 the curvilinear patterns such as illustrated on plates i and 2 and the 

 modem, shown on plate 20. The open socket, flat shape, and rec- 

 tangular slots for lashing are old ; the decoration, although somewhat 

 profuse, is more rigid and lacks the graceful flowing lines of the 

 earlier period. A pattern of lines, circles, dots and spurs is never 

 present on modern harpoon heads, although circles alone are found on 

 a restricted type from the Nunivak-Kuskokwim region, and crude 

 lines and triangles on others from the north coast of Alaska (see 

 pi. 20). However, in shape as well as design these modern decorated 

 harpoon heads differ essentially from the Punuk type. 



In plate 11, c, is shown the end of a box handle simply decorated with 

 the circle and dot, which might occur in either the Punuk or the recent 

 period. 



Plate II, /, shows the upper end of a dart foreshaft from Kukuliak, 

 St. Lawrence Island. In the top is a cavity 19 mm. deep and 12 mm. 

 in diameter. The object has been used secondarily as a drill or reamer. 

 The surface etching consists of lines, dots, circles and spurs. 



In g is shown an object of unknown use. It is broken at one end, 

 but the remaining decoration at this point, as well as the shape, sug- 

 gests that there was originally a second wing similarly ornamented. 

 The incisions are deeply and evenly cut and had been filled with red 

 ochre. The design is made up of circles and spurs and straight or 

 slightly curved lines, some of them forming bold Y-shaped figures. 

 The opposite side is not ornamented. 



The object illustrated by /i is a wrist guard purchased at Gambell. 

 St. Lawrence Island. The leather thong is modern. The design is 

 very simple, consisting only of nucleated circles enclosed in panels 

 formed by straight lines. 



An ivory drill rest with a rather closely applied decoration of lines, 

 dots, circles, and spurs is shown in i. 



Comparison of the circles on the objects just described with those 

 shown on previous plates reveals the significant fact that they are 

 mechanically perfect as well as flat, while the circles and ellipses previ- 

 ously shown were usually raised above the surface and were always 

 somewhat irregular, having been made free hand. The Punuk circles 

 were engraved mechanically with an implement of some kind, probably 

 a two-pointed compass of metal. The dots are usually from 2 to 

 3 mm. deep and the circles slightly less than i mm. The extreme pre- 



