NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  I27 
appears  to  have  been  widened  somewhat  through  weathering.  Most 
socket  pieces  of  this  type  (others  to  be  described  later)  had  a  small 
opening  near  the  upper  end  through  which  passed  the  line  that  held 
the  foreshaft  in  place,  and  below  it  another  and  larger  hole  for  the 
line  that  connected  the  socket  piece  with  the  wooden  harpoon  shaft. 
On  this  specimen,  however,  there  is  no  hole  near  the  upper  end, 
from  which  it  would  appear  that  the  foreshaft  was  attached  in  some 
other  manner,  probably  by  means  of  a  line  fastened  to  the  lashing 
which  held  shaft  and  socket  piece  together.  An  unfinished  socket 
piece  was  found  in  house  no.  i.  It  is  21  cm  long,  oval  in  cross-section 
with  a  conical  tang  4.5  cm  long. 
Socket  pieces  are  also  scantily  represented  at  Miyowagh,  with  two 
complete  and  seven  fragmentary  specimens.  Plate  31,  figure  18,  is 
a  badly  weathered  socket  piece  from  cut  13,  depth  14  inches.  Only 
a  few  traces  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  ornamentation  remain,  although 
the  deep  circular  pits,  or  "  eyes  ",  are  quite  distinct.  In  the  upper 
end  is  an  oval  socket  18  mm  deep.  Five  cm  from  the  top  is  a  circu- 
lar line  hole  from  which,  on  either  side,  descends  a  deep  narrow 
channel.  This  upper  line  hole  would  normally  have  received  the 
line  attached  to  the  foreshaft,  but  in  this  case  the  downward-pointing 
grooves  would  seem  to  indicate  a  line  connecting  with  the  wooden 
shaft.  If  so,  one  of  the  two  lower  holes  could  have  been  for  the  fore- 
shaft  line.  The  tang  was  conical  and  was  set  in  the  end  of  the  wooden 
shaft,  as  was  the  case  with  an  Old  Bering  Sea  socket  piece  from  Little 
Diomede  Island  figured  by  Jenness  (1928  a,  pi.  13,  c).  The  few  other 
socket  pieces  of  this  period  that  have  been  described  have  bifurcated 
tangs."  One  half  of  such  a  tang  is  shown  in  plate  31,  figure  15  (cut 
24,  54  in.).  It  is  decorated  in  typical  Old  Bering  Sea  style,  having 
two  ovoid  panels,  both  spurred,  enclosing  small,  deep  circles  between 
converging  lines,  suggestive  of  "  eyes  " ;  and  between  and  beyond 
these  a  number  of  deep  and  lightly  incised  lines  together  with  broken 
lines.  Through  the  lower  end  is  a  small  rectangular  slot  for  the  line 
which  passed  around  the  inserted  end  of  the  wooden  shaft,  the  same 
arrangement  as  on  the  two  specimens  figured  by  Mathiassen,  1929, 
figure  15. 
Plate  31,  figure  11,  is  a  poorly  preserved  socket  piece,  probably  un- 
finished, from  cut  16,  26  inches  deep.  It  had  a  conical  tang  and  a 
triangular  line  hole;  the  upper  end  is  broken.    Plate  31,  17  and  19, 
'Mathiassen,  1929,  fig.  15,0,  b,  from  Point  Hope  and  Kotzebue  Sound.  Collins, 
1929,  pl.  7,  c,  from  Miyowagh;  (pi.  8,  c,  is  incomplete).  Collins,  1935,  pi.  5, 
fig.  I,  from  Kukuliak,  St.  Lawrence  Island. 
