26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



ivory figurine illustrated on plate i6. This represents a woman with 

 long torso, prominent abdomen, pendant breasts and very short legs 

 and forearms. An incision has been made in the left breast as if for 

 suspension, and striations are seen across the upper arms and shoul- 

 ders. The well defined curves, especially of the lower part of the 

 body and the breasts, and the realistic treatment of the figure as a 

 whole, produce an effect quite unlike that seen in the simple and stiffly 

 conventional dolls of the modern Alaskan Eskimo. It is, however, 

 somewhat similar to the armless dolls of the Ammassalik Eskimo. 

 More significant even than the scarcity of carving in the round was 

 the total absence on Punuk of the pictographic art that is so char- 

 acteristic of the modern Alaskan Eskimo. Etched realistic designs 

 have not been found at any ancient Alaskan site so that this type 

 of art must for the present be considered as recent. 



RELATION OF THE PUNUK ART TO THE CURVILINEAR ART 

 OF THE OLD BERING SEA CULTURE 



We have seen on plates lo to 15 a number of objects from Punuk 

 and St. Lawrence Islands decorated in the manner characteristic of 

 what it seems proper to call the Punuk phase of the old Bering Sea 

 art, as represented at these localities. It shows significant differences 

 from as well as resemblances to the older phase of this art as repre- 

 sented by the objects on plates i to 8 and those figured by Jenness, 

 Hrdlicka, and Mathiassen. 



It will be observed first that both the Punuk and the older Bering 

 Sea cultures abound in highly decorated objects of unknown use. 

 Such are the winged objects shown on plates 6; 7, a-h; 10, a to c; 

 13, /; all of which are apparently related forms of the same class of 

 highly variable objects, used most likely in whaling ceremonies or as 

 individual charms. 



One of the most striking differences between the prehistoric and 

 modern Eskimo cultures in Alaska is found in the harpoon head. The 

 only type used in Alaska at the present time has a closed socket. It 

 often has also a small hole in the tip for a rivet which holds the blade 

 in place ; and often a slightly sunken area leading from the line hole to 

 the base. The prevailing type of harpoon head from the old Alaskan 

 sites lacks the last two features and has an open socket, with rectangu- 

 lar slots for lashing on the foreshaft. The harpoon heads from the old 

 villages on Punuk Island and Cape Kialegak are without exception 

 either of this open socket type or belong to a decorated closed socket 

 type related in form to the old closed socket heads shown on plate i. 



