NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND — COLLINS  253 
fishing;  an  abundance  of  game — walrus,  seal,  and  whales,  although 
the  latter  may  not  have  been  actually  hunted ;  nearby  cliffs  which  were 
the  breeding  places  of  countless  numbers  of  auklets,  murres,  guillemots, 
puffins,  and  cormorants,  valuable  alike  for  food  and  for  clothing ; 
and  back  of  the  plateau,  low  stretches  of  tundra  with  lakes  and  lagoons 
where  other  birds  such  as  geese,  ducks,  swans,  and  loons  could  be 
captured. 
The  Old  Bering  Sea  Eskimos  at  the  Hillside  site  and  those  who 
first  settled  at  Miyowagh  lived  in  small,  rectangular,  stone-floored 
houses  with  wooden  walls  and  apparently  wooden  roofs,  and  long, 
narrow  stone-floored  entrance  passages.  Light  and  heat  were  pro- 
vided by  round  earthenware  lamps,  and  food  was  cooked  in  deep, 
round  pots  of  the  same  material.  These  Eskimos  were  adept  at  stone 
chipping,  and  although  they  also  made  implements  of  rubbed  slate, 
many  of  their  knives,  scrapers,  arrow  points,  and  gravers  were  of 
chipped  stone.  They  apparently  had  no  knowledge  of  dog  traction, 
their  only  sledge  being  a  small,  low  form  with  heavy  ivory  runners, 
used  no  doubt  for  hauling  umiaks  and  loads  of  meat  over  the  ice. 
They  subsisted  chiefly  on  sea  mammals ;  the  bones  found  in  the  mid- 
dens show  that  the  principal  food  animals  were  the  small  seals,  the 
walrus,  bearded  seals,  and  (at  Miyowagh)  whales;  a  great  many  dog 
bones  were  also  found,  and  at  least  the  brains  of  the  dogs  were  eaten, 
for  most  of  the  skulls  had  a  large  opening  in  one  side,  evidently 
made  for  the  removal  of  the  brain.  In  contrast  to  the  large  numbers 
of  walrus  skulls,  there  were  very  few  seal  skulls  in  the  middens,  show- 
ing that  these  had  not  been  merely  cast  aside  but  disposed  of  in  some 
particular  manner,  perhaps  thrown  back  into  the  sea.  The  finding  of 
a  seal  skull  with  a  baleen  suspension  cord  attached  to  the  jaw  and  of 
a  number  of  seal  muzzles  strung  together  on  baleen  thongs  indicates 
ceremonial  observances  connected  with  these  animals. 
The  seals  and  walrus  were  captured  with  harpoons,  and  the  seal 
skin  float  was  used.  Whales  do  not  seem  to  have  been  hunted  during 
the  Old  Bering  Sea  period,  for  whaling  harpoon  heads  are  absent, 
though  the  quantity  of  baleen,  especially  at  Miyowagh,  shows  that 
they  were  obtained  in  some  way.  Baleen  was  put  to  a  great  variety 
of  uses ;  from  it  were  made  toboggans,  fishing  lines,  lashings  of  many 
kinds,  ice  scoops,  pails,  toys,  and  ornaments.  Ivory  was  abundant  and 
was  used  in  the  manufacture  of  many  types  of  implements,  weapons 
and  utensils  which  in  other  parts  of  the  Eskimo  region  would  be  made 
of  bone.  That  umiaks  and  kayaks  were  used  is  shown  by  the  presence 
of  paddles,  a  few  frame  pieces,  and  a  number  of  toys.  Ice  creepers 
were  used  to  prevent  slipping  when  walking  over  the  sea  ice.    Birds 
