144 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



Fig. 224 (on page 143). — This figure represents one of a series of bone dart- 

 heads collected by Mr. "NV. 11. Dall in shell-heai^s on the Aleutian Islands. He 

 has published an account of his examination of these artificial shell-deposits, 

 accompanied by illustrations of the relics found in them.* Mr. Dall comes to the 

 conclusion "that the people who first populated the islands were more similar to 

 the lowest grades of Innuit (so-called Eskimo) than to the Aleuts of the historic 

 period ; and that while the development of the other Innuit went on in the direc- 

 tion in which they first started, that of the Aleuts was differentiated and changed 

 by the limitations of their environment ; that a gradual progression from the low 

 Innuit stage to the present Aleut condition, without serious interruption, is plainly 

 indicated by the succession of the materials of, and utensils in, the shell-heaps of 

 the islands ; that the stratification of the shell-heaps shows a tolerably uniform 

 division into three stages, characterized by the food which formed the staple of 

 subsistence and by the weapons for obtaining, and utensils for preparing, this 

 food, as found in the separate strata; these stages being — I. the littoral period, 

 represented by the echinus-layer ; II. the fishing-period, represented by the 

 fish-bone layer ; III. the hunting-period, represented by the mammalian layer."-]- 



This extract will suffice for my purposes. 



The original of Fig. 224 was found in the lower mammalian layer, on 

 Ulakhta Spit, Unalashka Island. This single-barbed specimen has suffered 

 much from the efffects of time, and lost its point. The lower part is comparatively 

 thin, and presents on one side a shoulder for fastening the line. It probably was 

 a detachable head. 



Fig. 225 (on page 143). — A somewhjit similar bone harpoon-head of much 

 fresher appearance than the one just described. It was taken by ^Ir. Dall from 

 the upper fish-bone layer of a shell-heap in Unalashka Island. Its point has been 

 artificially rounded, evidently for serving a secondary purpose. The lower part, 

 from the indentations downward, has a chisel-like shape, and it terminates in a 

 blunt edge. There is some reason for conjecturing that the specimen formed a 

 detachable point. 



Fig. 226 (on page 143). — A bone harpoon-point with two barbs, fi'om a shell- 

 heap at Greenland Cove, near Damariscotta, Maine. Found by Mr. A. I. Phelps, 

 in 1882, and given by him to the Peabody Museum (No. 29234). It is made fi'om 

 a piece probably cut from the leg-bone of a deer or moose, slightly flattened on 

 one side, and has the natural rounded surface on the other. The base shows 

 slight signs of wear, as if from insertion into a shaft. Thickness of the base 



* Dall : On Succession in the Shell-Heaps of the Aleutian Islands ; Contributions to North American Ethno- 

 logy ; Vol. I, "Washington, 1877; p. 41-91. 



t Ibid. ; p. 49. 



