34  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
maritime  Eskimo  to  locate  their  villages  within  easy  access  of  the 
sea  or  other  body  of  water.  Thus,  the  ruins  closest  to  the  present 
village,  near  the  western  shore  line,  and  the  adjoining  site  of  Sek- 
lowaghyaget,  should  be  the  latest.  In  the  same  way,  the  oldest  of  the 
abandoned  sites  should  be  Miyowagh,  situated  at  the  base  of  the 
plateau  three-fourths  of  a  mile  and  half  a  mile  from  the  sea  and  en- 
closed within  the  first  two  old  beach  lines.  levoghiyoq,  some  200  yards 
to  the  north,  is  separated  from  Miyowagh  by  four  beach  lines  and 
should  therefore  date  from  a  somewhat  later  period. 
The  archeological  evidence  resulting  from  four  months  of  intensive 
excavation  bore  out  this  assumed  sequence.  Miyowagh  had  been  es- 
tablished during  the  time  that  the  old  Bering  Sea  culture  was  at  its 
height,  for  the  lower  levels  of  the  midden  yielded  the  complicated 
harpoon  heads  and  elaborate  art  style  known  to  have  been  character- 
istic of  that  period.  But  the  material  from  the  upper  levels,  and  par- 
ticularly from  the  northwestern  section,  showed  that  during  the  later 
occupancy  of  the  site  important  cultural  modifications  had  set  in, 
resulting  in  the  decline  of  the  rich  Old  Bering  Sea  ornamentation  and 
its  replacement  by  the  simpler  art  of  the  Punuk  period.  The  next 
oldest  site,  levoghiyoq,  proved  to  be  a  pure  site  of  the  Punuk  period, 
with  no  trace  of  Old  Bering  Sea  art  or  harpoon  types.  Seklowaghyaget 
was  likewise  of  Punuk  age,  but  it  had  been  abandoned  later  than 
levoghiyoq,  for  harpoon  heads  from  the  upper  levels  included  a  type 
which  at  the  latest  site — the  ruins  adjoining  the  present  village — was 
found  to  have  evolved  directly  into  the  modern  St.  Lawrence  form. 
The  presence  of  a  few  glass  beads  and  pieces  of  metal  showed  that 
this  latest  site  could  not  have  been  more  than  200  years  old. 
The  cultural  sequence  revealed  by  these  four  old  sites,  while  clear 
enough  in  itself  and  unusually  complete  in  detail,  still  left  unanswered 
one  important  question.  This  was  the  identification  of  the  type  forms 
of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  culture,  that  is,  the  common  implement  types 
aside  from  the  decorated  objects.  It  might  be  considered  that  the  im- 
plements from  the  lower  levels  of  Miyowagh,  where  only  Old  Bering 
Sea  art  was  found,  were  the  types  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  culture. 
While  such  an  assumption  would  appear  reasonable,  a  degree  of  un- 
certainty would  be  present  due  to  the  fact  that  both  Old  Bering  Sea 
and  Punuk  objects  occurred  in  the  same  midden,  thus  making  it  pos- 
sible that  an  object  when  found  might  not  occupy  its  original  position, 
due  to  disturbances  resulting  from  sloughing,  from  excavations  for 
houses,  etc.  This  deficiency  was  fortunately  removed  by  the  discovery 
of  a  pure  site  of  Old  Bering  Sea  culture,  on  the  lower  slope  of  the 
plateau  immediately  back  of  Miyowagh.    This  old  site,  which  was 
