140 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



with no trace of the later Punuk art. Many undecorated objects 

 were also found, revealing for the first time the common implement 

 types of the Old Bering Sea culture. Harpoon heads were of various 

 types : with closed and open shaft sockets, with one, two, or three 

 spurs, with end blades and with side blades. 1 



At Miyowaghameet, the next oldest site, the eastern and southern 

 parts of the midden were found to continue deep below the sod and 

 to be practically continuous with the old hillside midden. The deco- 

 rated objects from this section of Miyowaghameet belonged also to 

 the Old Bering Sea period, but already a change was noticeable ; the 

 designs, while still very elaborate, were somewhat uniform, in con- 

 trast to those of the hillside site which displayed more freedom in 

 the utilization of the various design elements. However, the most 

 beautiful objects were those belonging to this later stage of the Old 

 Bering Sea Culture. At the upper levels of the eastern and southern 

 sections of the Miyowaghameet midden were found a few scattered 

 objects bearing the simple line and dot ornamentation of the Punuk 

 period. At the opposite or northern and western parts of the midden 

 Punuk art was found from the surface to a depth of about 5 feet, 

 but below that Old Bering Sea pieces were the prevailing forms. A 

 similar condition was found in regard to harpoon heads. Those from 

 the older sections were mostly of the complicated Old Bering Sea 

 types while the later ones, of Punuk age, were simpler in form as 

 well as decoration. 



It is evident, therefore, that when the first settlers came to Miyo- 

 waghameet — no doubt from the hillside village — they brought the 

 Old Bering Sea culture with them. Somewhat later, as the village 

 expanded to the northward and westward the rich old art had been 

 replaced by the simplified art of the Punuk period. New types of 

 harpoon heads appeared and some of the old types were discontinued. 

 There were likewise changes in some of the other implement types but 

 on the whole the material culture was not greatly altered. 



The Punuk art, which had appeared in the later sections of Miyo- 

 waghameet, had continued to flourish at the next oldest village, now 

 represented by the Ievoghiyogameet midden. But here it underwent 

 certain changes ; the lines became straighter and deeper, and mechani- 

 cally made circles appeared. Harpoon heads became simpler in form 



1 Harpoon heads are seen to have assumed a wide variety of forms on 

 St. Lawrence Island in prehistoric times but their development was along lines 

 that to a considerable degree can be traced ; there is reason to believe that 

 these implements will have relatively as important a role in the elucidation of 

 problems of Eskimo prehistory as pottery has had in the Southwest. 



