96  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
flat  on  the  under  side,  slightly  convex  above,  and  has  a  slanting  hole 
evidently  made  to  receive  a  prong ;  the  small  slot  at  the  upper,  forked 
end  is  probably  for  suspension,  suggesting  that  the  object  was  used 
as  a  hook  of  some  kind. 
If  we  examine  the  distribution  of  the  objects  bearing  Punuk  decora- 
tion in  table  i,  it  will  be  seen  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  them 
(89  out  of  107)  come  from  the  northwestern  section  of  the  midden, 
and  that  most  of  those  from  the  southeastern  section  came  from  the 
upper  levels.  As  to  the  relative  positions  of  styles  i  and  2,  we  have 
also  seen  that  practically  all  of  the  few  examples  of  style  2  which  were 
found  at  Miyowagh  came  from  the  surface  layers  of  the  northwest- 
ern section,  indicating  that  it  is  the  most  recent  of  the  several  art 
styles  present.  The  distribution  of  Punuk  art  is  exactly  the  reverse 
of  Old  Bering  Sea ;  the  latter,  it  will  be  recalled,  was  the  only  style 
present  at  the  Hillside  site,  while  at  Miyowagh  it  predominated  at  the 
southeastern  section  of  the  midden  and  at  the  northwestern  section 
was  found  for  the  most  part  in  the  lower  levels  of  the  midden.  The 
conclusion  to  be  drawn  is  that  the  southeastern  part  of  Miyowagh  is 
the  older,  having  been  either  in  part  contemporaneous  with  the  adjoin- 
ing Hillside  site  or  established  soon  after  its  abandonment.  After  a 
considerable  interval  of  time,  the  Old  Bering  Sea  art  fell  into  decline 
and  was  gradually  replaced  by  the  simpler  Punuk  art,  which  is  now 
found  superimposed  upon  it  in  all  sections  of  the  midden.  The  ques- 
tion now  arises  whether  Punuk  art  is  a  direct  outgrowth  of  the  Old 
Bering  Sea  or  an  importation  from  without.  If  the  former  hypothesis 
is  to  be  upheld,  it  will  be  necessary  to  point  out  intermediate  stages, 
and  in  fact  there  are  several  examples  which  might  be  regarded  as 
affording  evidence  of  such  a  transition.  One  of  these  is  the  knife 
handle  shown  in  plate  22,  figure  i,  on  which  a  typical  Punuk  i  decora- 
tion of  lines  and  dots  is  combined  with  rows  of  faintly  dotted  lines, 
which  are  just  as  definitely  Old  Bering  Sea.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
harpoon  head  shown  in  plate  28,  figure  15,  where  rows  of  broken  lines 
accompany  a  typical  Punuk  i  decoration.  The  needle  case  shown  in 
plate  17,  figure  9,  is  another  example,  this  time  of  an  Old  Bering 
Sea  pattern  to  which  have  been  added  Punuk  dots  and  spurs.  The 
ivory  object  shown  in  plate  22,  figure  4,  has  another  unusual  combina- 
tion, a  freehand  circle  accompanying  a  Punuk  i  decoration.  This 
might  in  a  way  be  considered  as  bridging  the  gap  between  the  freehand 
circle  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  period  and  the  compass-made  circle  of 
the  Punuk.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  there  was  a  period  during  the 
occupancy  of  Miyowagh  when  Old  Bering  Sea  and  Punuk  motives 
were  both  in  vogue.   Probably  if  we  had  more  material  from  just  this 
