260  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
rise  from  the  floor  near  the  outer  edge  of  the  platform.  Over  the  first 
horizontal  roof  beams  are  laid  smaller  logs,  then  three  more  layers, 
which  bring  the  roof  to  the  top,  where  an  opening  i6  by  20  inches 
wide  is  left. 
At  Norton  Sound  we  find  a  blending  of  the  southwest  and  north 
Alaskan  house  types.  Thus  at  Rocky  Point,  near  Golovin  Bay,  Nelson 
found  houses  with  small  square  anterooms,  used  for  storage,  which 
were  entered  from  above  by  means  of  a  ladder  (Nelson,  1899,  pp. 
252-254),  a  form  of  entrance  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Arctic 
coast.  From  Nelson's  description  these  Norton  Sound  houses  seem 
to  have  had  a  single  high  sleeping  platform  at  the  rear  like  those  north 
of  Bering  Strait,  in  contrast  to  the  low  platforms  along  two  or  three 
sides  which  are  always  found  south  of  Norton  Sound.  However,  in 
Sagoskin's  earlier  account  of  Norton  Sound  dwellings  we  have  a 
specific  reference  to  the  latter  type  of  platform  (Erman,  1848,  pp. 
536-537).  Norton  Sound,  therefore,  marks  the  northern  limit  of  the 
low  sleeping  platform  which  extends  along  two  or  more  sides  of  the 
room,  as  it  does  the  southern  limit  of  the  single  rear  platform. 
Nelson  does  not  describe  the  manner  in  which  the  roofs  of  these 
houses  were  constructed,  although  his  plan  of  the  Cape  Nome  house 
(fig.  82)  seems  to  indicate  a  double  slant  as  on  the  more  northern 
houses.  Fortunately,  however,  we  have  a  description  by  Sagoskin  of 
the  roof  structure  of  Norton  Sound  houses,  from  which  it  is  seen  that 
some,  at  least,  were  cribbed  or  vaulted  in  exactly  the  same  manner 
as  those  found  to  the  southward  (Erman,  1848,  p.  536). 
The  excavations  at  Gambell  have  shown  that  Eskimo  houses  on  St. 
Lawrence  Island  have  in  the  past  undergone  numerous  and  far- 
reaching  changes.  These  have  evidently  come  about  both  through  the 
modification  or  evolution  of  local  forms  and  the  importation  of  new 
forms  which  either  replaced  or  were  employed  in  conjunction  with 
those  already  existing. 
Beginning  with  the  earliest  forms,  the  sequence  of  house  types 
that  could  be  distinguished  at  Gambell  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 
( I )  Houses  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  period,  small,  square  to  rectangu- 
lar ;  semisubterranean ;  stone  floors ;  walls  of  horizontally  laid  small 
timbers  with  occasional  whale  jaws,  held  in  place  by  wood  and  bone 
stakes ;  form  of  roof  unknown ;  long  entrance  passage  lower  than  floor 
of  house,  with  stone  floor  and  walls  and  timbered  roof.  (Pis.  5,  9; 
text  fig.  3.) 
(i  a)  A  modification  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  house,  coming  into  use 
during  the  early  stages  of  the  succeeding  Punuk  period ;  similar  in 
all  essential  features  to  the  earlier  form  but  almost  twice  as  large ; 
