38 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 81 



design; whereas in the modern art it usually rises from a base line 

 and stands detached. The nucleated circle occupies a most important 

 place in the decorative scheme of early Eskimo art. It w^as shown to 

 occur in the old Bering Sea culture as a slightly irregular, often 

 elliptical figure, engraved free hand and apparently with stone tools. 

 It then follows in the Punuk stage as a perfectly symmetrical, cleanly 

 cut circle, made with a compass or bit which almost certainly was of 

 metal. In the modern art it is made in exactly the same way, although 

 it is usually represented as a more or less detached element instead of 

 an integral part of a connected design as in the old curvilinear and 

 Punuk stages. 



The distribution of the circle and dot design in Northwestern 

 America has recently been studied by Dr. Leslie Spier and Miss 

 A. Dorothy Smith.^ The following statement is made : " This has 

 often been looked oh as a typical Eskimo decoration. But we are 

 able to show by its distribution that it is more clearly characteristic 

 of the Indians of the northwest, with only a limited distribution among 

 the Eskimo." In conclusion, the following statement is made : " In 

 western Alaska the great elaboration of the dot and circle into a series 

 of concentric circles numbering frequently five and six may be de- 

 pendent upon iron tools. The extreme regularity of the circles speaks 

 for the likelihood of the use of bits of various sizes. This, however, 

 does not solve the problem of the simple nucleated circle which is 

 probably older and, together with the alternate spur design, the 

 basic unit from which the elaborate decorations are made. Two rea- 

 sons can be given for this view. First, it is simple and possible to 

 accomplish with stone implements. Second, in its simple form as a 

 single dot and circle it has a wide and fairly continuous spread down 

 the Pacific coast, and a wide if sporadic distribution in Eskimo ter- 

 ritory. If the Alaskan decoration had been imitated, we would expect 

 to find some similar examples elsewhere." 



The principal value of such studies of spatial distribution lies in the 

 light they may be able to throw on the problem of the origin and 

 spread of culture traits when more dependable data revealing a direct 

 time sequence are lacking. In the present case there was some justifi- 

 cation for regarding the circle and dot in Alaska as derivitive, in view 

 of its greater spread among the Indian tribes to the southward and in 

 the absence of conclusive archeological evidence to the contrary. Con- 

 sidered in the light of recent archeological developments in Alaska, 

 however, the validity of this conclusion can no longer be upheld. 



^ The Dot and Circle Design in Northwestern America. Jonrn. Soc. Ameri- 

 canistes de Paris, XIX, pp. 47-53. 



