44 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



had a small hole for a peg at the upper end and a triangular line hole 

 with groove leading to the base. This head was found at a depth of 

 about three feet, but inasmuch as it was just below the wooden floor 

 of a house it might possibly have fallen into that position while the 

 house was still occupied. 



The small peg for holding the blade in place is also an important 

 feature. It is common in modern harpoon heads from Alaska and 

 eastern regions and also from the Thule culture (see Mathiassen, Vol, 

 I, p. 25 and pis. 39, 40, and d",') but is not found at the ancient 

 Alaskan sites. 



Decoration when present on the Thule harpoon heads is restricted 

 to plain Y-shaped figures about the line hole, with an occasional 

 enlargement of the figure into a triangular hachured area (see 

 Mathiassen, Vol. i, pis. i, 37, 69, and 72). In Alaska designs of this 

 simple type are found only on recent or moderately old harpoon heads 

 from the Arctic coast (see pi. 20*; and Wissler, figs. 7, 8, and 21 ) . 



Mathiassen describes certain Thule harpoon heads that have orna- 

 mental remnants of side blades, which he regards as an indication 

 that they represent survivals of an earlier Alaskan form with side 

 blades of full size. An additional example of residuary or ornamental 

 side blade grooves is found in the small harpoon head illustrated on 

 plate 20, f, excavated at Metlatavik, 22 miles north of Bering Strait. 

 The material recovered from this site included iron and glass beads, 

 showing that the settlement was probably not more than 200 years old. 

 This example of residuary side blade grooves from a late Alaskan 

 site may be regarded as further confirming the explanation advanced 

 by Mathiassen for the Thule harpoon heads showing the same feature. 



I am at present inclined to regard as also recent in Alaska the small 

 ivory bird figures that are found in considerable numbers at the Thule 

 sites. These were also numerous in the later Cape Kialegak midden 

 and in the recent houses on Punuk Island, but in the Punuk midden, 

 where much more excavating was done, only four were found. 

 Furthermore, none that I have seen from other St. Lawrence or 

 Alaskan sites has had the deep patination that always marks the 

 ivory objects of the oldest Bering Sea period. 



Of the features last named, drilled holes around the sockets of har- 

 poon heads for lashing on the foreshaft, small pegs at the tip for 

 holding the blade in place, and the ivory bird figures, may, like the 

 realistic etchings, have had their origin in the east and been carried 

 to Alaska by a late wave of migration. The important point to note, 

 however, is that even though such features as these were derived 

 from the Thule culture, they w^ere nothing more than late additions 



