142 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



Archeological field-work in this section of Alaska must be carried 

 on under difficulties. There are no regular means of transportation to 

 the more remote areas ; there is often no nearby source of labor or 

 supplies ; wood for fuel is often scarce and on Punuk suitable drink- 

 ing water was lacking. The weather is extremely disagreeable and 

 on the Bering Sea islands, in particular, high winds, cold, fog, and 

 rains generally prevail throughout the summer. Added to these incon- 

 venient features the work of excavating is made unusually difficult 



Fig. 129. — Paul Silook and Steven Istivik, St. Lawrence Island Eskimos, 

 cutting up a walrus they shot at Punuk. Walrus blubber is the principal 

 food of the St. Lawrence Islanders. 



because of the permanently frozen ground, which makes it necessary 

 to strip off the earth in layers of only a few inches thickness, allowing 

 the atmosphere to thaw out the exposed surface before repeating the 

 process. 



Viewed from the sea on either side, the Punuk village site appears 

 as a six-foot mound rising from the level surface of the land and 

 occupying the entire space across a narrow neck of the island. Sunk 

 into its top are the square pits of the old houses, which were con- 

 structed of drift wood and whale bones, and the underground caches 



