236 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 10 



ORIGIN OF THE ESKIMO 



Basing his opinion on the new evidence from Point Barrow, north- 

 western Alaska, the Bering Sea region, St. Lawrence Island, and 

 other sites excavated by Collins, Zolotarev ^* accepts Mathiassen's 

 views, in preference to those of Birket-Smith, regarding the origin of 

 the Eskimo. From his study of the archeological materials he arrives 

 at the following conclusions : 



The most ancient proto-Eskimo culture is that of the Bering Sea. 

 The archeological characteristics of this culture are distinct, although 

 it is impossible at present to draw any conclusions regarding its social 

 and economic status. 



This culture came to the area of Bering Strait from the west, most 

 probably progressing along the Arctic coast of Siberia. The art 

 preserves a strong Paleolithic tradition, but the degree of its material 

 production does not attain the level of fully developed Neolithic. It 

 is very tempting to connect this culture with the ancient culture of 

 the lAmal Peninsula. An assumption to this effect would find support 

 in the close relation of the Samoyed and the Eskimo languages. 



The theory of the Asiatic origin of the Eskimo receives a firm 

 foundation in this new archeological evidence. 



Having reached America during the stage of the "Bering Sea 

 Culture," the ancestors of the Eskimo migrated eastward along the 

 Arctic shore of America. There they formed the Thule culture, out 

 of which developed the modern cultures of the Central, Polar, and 

 Greenland Eskimos. 



The culture of the contemporary Eskimos of Alaska was formed 

 from the Bering Sea Culture. Having passed the Punuk stage, it was 

 possibly affected by influences connected with the reverse movement 

 of some of the Thule groups. 



Examining the anthropological evidence,^® Zolotarev draws further 

 conclusions. The most ancient Eskimo type, homogeneous in the 

 main, is dolichocephalic, with a high carinate skull. This type ob- 

 viously came from Asia. 



This type was displaced in Alaska in relatively recent times by tall 

 brachycephals approaching the Paleoasiatic type. 



Recognition of the dolichocephal as the most ancient Eskimo type 



•5* Zolotarev, A. M., K voprosu o proiskhozhdenii Eskimosov [On the origin 

 of the Eskimo]. AZH, No. I, pp. 47-56, 1937. 



"5 Cf. Hrdlicka, Ales, Anthropological survey in Alaska, 46th Ann. Rep. Bur. 

 Amer. Ethnol., 1930; and Melanesians and Australians and the peopling of 

 America, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 94, No. 11, 1935. Also Diamond Jenness, 

 The American Aborigines. Toronto, 1933. 



