NO. 14 PREHISTORIC ART OF ALASKAN ESKIMO-^COLLTNS 33 



and concluded that " The Alaskan type seems to he a very locally re- 

 stricted, special form, which has hardly anything to do with the origin 

 of the winged needle case." On the other hand he considered that the 

 Alaskan type of needle case in human form was the prototype of the 

 winged needle case of the East. As evidence of this he points to two 

 ancient needle cases of a modified winged type from Point Barrow, 

 one of which has on each wing two oblique lines which " are appar- 

 ently intended to indicate the hands bent in front of the body." The 

 interpretation of these lines as hands is extremely doubtful. Xo single 

 feature of the two needle cases suggests the human form and as for 

 the pairs of oblique lines, they may be compared much more readily 

 with the similar oblique lines on the lower parts of the flanges of 

 many of the Alaskan specimens. The significant point, however, is 

 that these two Point Barrow needle cases are in reality intermediate 

 between the winged needle case of the East and the Alaskan flanged 

 needle case, and not, as Mathiassen has supposed, between the winged 

 case and the Alaskan case in human form. Comparison of the three 

 types will. I believe, bear this out. The upper portions of the Point 

 Barrow specimens are widened out like the Alaskan forms although 

 there are no distinct flanges. The bands and spurred lines are known 

 to both regions but their arrangement is more suggestive of the 

 Alaskan cases. The " wings " are of the Eastern type but are much 

 longer and narrower than in the typical Eastern needle case. 



In the fragmentary needle case from Gambell, plate 9. figure 3, we 

 have a modification of the Point Barrow type still further in the di- 

 rection of the Alaskan flanged type. The general shape is that of the 

 Alaskan case except that there are no flanges at the enlarged end : the 

 bands with alternate spurs are common to both types ; the two long 

 incurving lines down the sides are the same as those on the Point Bar- 

 row specimens but they do not contain " wings." I consider that the 

 Point Barrow and Gambell needle cases furnish further and con- 

 clusive evidence of the relation between the Alaskan and Eastern 

 needle cases as demonstrated by Boas. It appears to me also that we 

 may have here a possible explanation of the origin of the Eskimo 

 needle case. The Gambell form may have been the prototype from 

 which developed on the one hand the restricted Alaskan form with 

 its flanges and knobs and on the other the Eastern form with its promi- 

 nent projecting wings, the Point Barrow specimens representing an 

 early stage in the development of the winged type. I do not care to 

 stress this hypothesis, however. The Gambell type might as reason- 

 ably have been derived from the Point Barrow type, having retained 

 the long incurving lines while losing the wings. Whatever the expla- 



