NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND — COLLINS  20I 
States,  but  as  I  have  suggested  before  (1929,  p.  9)  this  seems  unHkely 
in  view  of  the  great  distance  separating  the  two  forms.  In  a  way 
these  winged  objects  recall  some  of  the  canoe  ornaments  from  Micro- 
nesia (Miiller-Wismar,  1912,  fig.  11),  particularly  the  Caroline  Island 
form  in  which  the  pointed,  flaring  ends  are  connected  to  the  center, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  "  turreted  "  Eskimo  form ;  but  it  would 
seem  hardly  likely  that  these  were  related  in  origin.  There  is,  however, 
still  another  possibility  to  be  mentioned,  namely,  that  these  objects  may 
have  been  "  wings  "  for  the  butt  end  of  a  harpoon  or  dart  used  with 
the  throwing  board.  It  will  be  recalled  that  all  of  them  have  a  basal 
socket  seemingly  designed  to  hold  a  handle  or  shaft  tightly  in  place. 
This  may  take  the  form  either  of  a  deep  cylindrical  pit  in  which  a 
shaft  would  fit  tightly,  or  a  square  or  rectangular  opening  with  lateral 
slots  for  a  lashing.  More  significant,  however,  is  the  invariable  shallow 
notch  or  groove  at  the  end  of  the  central  projection.  This  is  pre- 
cisely the  kind  of  a  pit  that  would  be  necessary  to  engage  the  bone  or 
ivory  spur  at  the  end  of  the  throwing  board;  the  fact  that  such  a 
pit  is  present  on  every  specimen  that  has  been  found  and  that  very 
often  these  pits  show  signs  of  wear,  strongly  suggest  that  they  had 
a  definite  function.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  think  of  the  "  trident  " 
and  "  turreted  "  forms  as  adapted  to  such  a  use,  for  they  would  proba- 
bly have  been  as  effective  as  the  bone  harpoon  "  wings  "  used  by  the 
Greenland  Eskimos.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  some  of  the 
larger  and  heavier  "  winged  "  forms  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  period 
would  seem  very  poorly  adapted  to  such  a  purpose,  and  this  alone 
would  be  sufficient  reason  for  looking  for  a  better  explanation.  For 
the  present,  therefore,  the  interpretation  of  these  curious  objects 
must  remain  in  doubt,  but  whatever  it  may  be,  it  must  satisfactorily 
explain  the  presence  of  the  small  notch  at  the  upper  end.  This  seem- 
ingly insignificant  feature  evidently  had  a  function  just  as  definite  as 
the  basal  socket,  and  it  will,  no  doubt,  provide  the  final  explanation  of 
the  manner  in  which  these  objects  were  used. 
Were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  tridents  all  have  this  shallow 
notch,  and  the  further  fact  that  the  form  represents  only  one  stage  in 
a  demonstrable  sequence,  we  might  be  inclined  to  look  for  a  genetic 
relationship  between  them  and  certain  more  or  less  comparable  Asiatic 
trident  forms  such  as  the  Yenisei  shaman's  staff  (Karutz,  1925,  p. 
95,  figs.  2-4),  old  Japanese  helmet  ornaments,  Indian,  Chinese,  and 
Tibetan  standards,  etc.  In  view  of  other  Asiatic  affinities  of  prehis- 
toric Eskimo  culture  such  a  connection  cannot  be  ruled  out  in  advance  ; 
the  present  evidence,  however,  points  to  convergence  as  the  most  likely 
explanation  of  the  resemblances  between  these  widely  separated  trident 
forms. 
