l86  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
and  by  the  time  the  roof  timbers  were  completely  exposed  the  ground 
had  l)egun  to  freeze  again,  so  that  the  excavation  iiad  to  be  left 
unfinished. 
Artifacts  from  house  no.  7  include  a  number  of  potsherds ;  slate 
blades ;  adz  blade ;  adz  handle  ;  ivory  fishline  sinker  ;  drill  rest ;  wooden 
drum  handle  (pi.  81,  fig.  6)  ;  kayak  paddle  (pi.  84.  fig.  2)  ;  board  used 
in  making  fire  (by  drilling)  (pi.  84,  fig.  i)  ;  and  35  small  wooden 
pegs,  for  bird  snares.  Two  poorly  preserved  human  skeletons,  with 
crushed  skulls,  were  found  l)eneath  the  fallen  roof  timbers. 
Seklowaghyaget 
Seklowaghyaget,  the  largest  of  the  old  Gambell  sites,  is  a  low, 
spreading  midden  situated  at  the  northwest  end  of  the  lake  and  im- 
mediately behind — to  the  east  of — the  present  village.  It  has  an  aver- 
age breadth,  north  and  south,  of  200  feet  and  a  length  of  some  200 
yards  but  its  exact  boundary  on  the  west  cannot  be  determined,  since 
it  merges  imperceptibly  into  the  older  section  of  the  present  village. 
Numerous  house  pits  are  visible  and  the  surface  has  been  much  dis- 
turbed by  the  digging  of  the  Eskimos.  On  the  south  side  the  midden 
stands  out  rather  prominently  as  it  slopes  down  to  the  low  land  bor- 
dering the  lake,  but  one  of  our  cuts,  no.  4,  sunk  just  back  of  the  highest 
point,  showed  that  the  refuse  extended  to  a  depth  of  only  4  feet  4 
inches.  The  appearance  of  greater  depth  was  due  to  the  fact  that  on 
the  south  side  the  refuse  had  been  distributed  along  the  top  of  the 
gravel  ridge  bordering  the  lake,  some  of  it  falling  down  to  the  low 
ground  below. 
Seven  12-foot  cuts  were  made  at  Seklowaghyaget,  four  in  1930 
and  three  in  193 1.  The  cuts  ranged  in  depth  from  4  feet  i  inch  to  5 
feet  7  inches.  There  was  more  gravel  than  at  the  three  older  sites 
and  not  nearly  as  much  cultural  material — less  than  700  specimens 
were  found.  However,  these  were  sufficient  to  indicate  that  the  site 
had  been  established  during  the  Punuk  stage  and  occupied  until  a 
comparatively  late  period,  when  the  Punuk  culture  had  begun  to  be 
supplanted  by  the  modern.  The  midden  dift'ered  from  those  previ- 
ously described  in  that  much  of  the  gravel  and  refuse  was  saturated 
with  blubber,  a  condition  similar  to  that  observed  at  Point  Hope  on 
the  Arctic  coast.  This  is  an  indication  not  only  of  the  younger  age 
of  the  Seklowaghyaget  midden  as  compared  with  the  three  already 
described,  but  also  of  the  fact  that  whaling  had  now  become  an  im- 
portant occupation  (as  is  also  shown  by  the  relatively  large  number 
of  whaling  harpoon  heads)   and  that  larger  stores  of  whale  blubber 
