J 56 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



The earlier phase of the old Bering Sea culture, that characterized 

 hy the rich curvilinear art, appears without doubt to be the most 

 ancient stage of Eskimo culture of which there is tangible evidence. 

 The oldest Eskimo culture of Canada and Greenland, the Thule cul- 

 ture, was apparently derived from that of Alaska but it is significant 

 that it resembles the late prehistoric and even modern Alaskan cul- 

 ture more closely than it does the earlier Bering Sea culture. It is 

 probal)le that these resemblances are the result of a return migration 

 or spread of Thule elements subsequent to the original eastward move- 

 ment of the Thule culture. 



Of equal importance, though as yet much less clear, is the ques- 

 tion of the relation of the old Bering Sea culture to that of south- 

 eastern Alaska and the coast of British Columbia. All that can be 

 said at the present stage of our knowledge is that there is a vague 

 general similarity in the art of the two regions which suggests that 

 further studies may possibly reveal evidences of a former rela- 

 tionship. 



The most important task awaiting archeological research in the 

 Arctic or sub-Arctic is to trace the early stages through which the 

 old Bering Sea culture passed. We find it in Alaska as an already 

 highly developed culture, apparently having reached there in that 

 condition. Evidence both of a direct and indirect nature points to 

 northeastern Siberia, somewhere between the Anadyr and Kolyma 

 Rivers, as the probable place of origin of this most ancient known 

 form of Eskimo culture. 



