IOS SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



eastern Siberia in the third century A. D. This being the case, it would 

 be natural to assume that the neighboring Eskimos would likewise 

 have possessed some of the metal, if only in very small quantities. At 

 any rate, it is certain that the deeply and evenly incised lines and the 

 perfect circles of the Punuk period were produced with metal instru- 

 ments ; and that these must have long antedated the time of first 

 Russian contact is shown by the fact that typical Punuk art is found 

 from top to bottom of 16-foot kitchenmiddens at old sites which ac- 

 cording to every indication have been abandoned for two hundred 

 years. 



While the Old Bering Sea art was undergoing changes in the 

 western area around Bering Strait, as outlined above, modifications 

 along somewhat different lines were taking place farther to the east- 

 ward. Recent excavations in the central Eskimo area of northern 

 Canada and also in Greenland have brought to light evidence of a 

 widespread old Eskimo culture which has been designated as Thule. 

 Instead of being similar to the culture of the present Central Eskimo, 

 the old Thule culture shows a surprising resemblance to that of 

 Alaska. Indeed, the resemblances are so close and so many that there 

 can be no doubt but that the Thule culture had its origin in Alaska. 

 Thule types of implements, particularly harpoon heads, are found 

 also on St. Lawrence Island and at Bering Strait, but there they are 

 comparatively recent, being associated with the later stages of the 

 Punuk. As we proceed eastward along the Arctic coast, however, 

 Thule traits are seen to become more abundant, and since there have 

 been no systematic archeological investigations in this area the pre- 

 cise nature of the relationship between the two old cultures remains 

 to be determined. The most important strategic point for such an in- 

 vestigation seems to be Point Barrow, for according to present indica- 

 tions this was on the one hand the most easterly point to which the 

 Old Bering Sea culture extended and on the other the most westerly 

 point at which the Thule existed as a predominant type. 



The determination of the exact relationship between the Old Ber- 

 ing Sea and Thule cultures was made one of the primary objectives 

 of the 193] expedition, the investigation being intrusted to James A. 

 Ford. 



After leaving the Northland at Nome, Air. Ford continued north- 

 ward through Bering Strait and up the Arctic coast to Point Barrow 

 on the trading schooner Patterson. The Institution is greatly in- 

 debted to Capt. C. T. Pedersen for his assistance in furnishing 

 Air. Ford with transportation. As originally planned, excavations 



