NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  267 
ing  the  entire  range  of  Alaskan  Eskimo  houses,  the  Point  Barrow 
form,  instead  of  being  typical,  is  seen  to  be  the  most  divergent  of  all. 
What,  then,  is  the  status  of  the  Point  Barrow  house?  In  spite  of 
its  wooden  framework  and  rectangular  shape,  which  give  it  an  outward 
resemblance  to  other  Alaskan  houses,  the  presence  of  a  rear  platform 
and  gabled  roof  show  it  to  be  structurally  more  closely  related  to  the 
houses  of  the  Eastern  Eskimo.  The  explanation  which  seems  best  to 
explain  this  condition  is  that  there  is  a  direct  connection  between  the 
Point  Barrow  and  the  Thule  house,  as  Mathiassen  has  recognized. 
Mathiassen  (1927,  vol.  2)  has  shown  conclusively  how  in  a  great 
many  respects  the  extinct  Thule  culture  of  the  east  closely  resembles 
that  of  the  Alaskan  Eskimo,  and  particularly  that  at  Point  Barrow. 
Jenness  ( 1928  a,  p.  80)  in  speaking  of  cultural  changes  which  occurred 
in  the  Bering  Sea  region  after  the  establishment  of  the  Old  Bering 
Sea  culture,  mentions  the  possibility  of  there  having  been  "  an  invasion 
of  tribes  from  the  north,  bringing  in  a  Thule  culture  that  had  evolved 
somewhere  along  the  Arctic  coast";  and  the  writer  (Collins,  1929, 
pp.  43,  44;  1934,  p.  311 ;  1935,  p.  463)  has  suggested  that  there  may 
have  been  a  comparatively  late  return  migration  of  Thule  peoples  into 
northern  Alaska  subsequent  to  the  original  eastward  spread  of  the 
Thule  culture  from  Alaska  to  the  Central  regions.  As  we  shall  see 
later,  there  are  certain  important  Thule  elements  which  in  Alaska  are 
never  found  at  the  older  sites  but  which  are  prominent  at  the  late  pre- 
historic or  modern  sites,  particularly  those  along  the  Arctic  coast,  a 
condition  which  apparently  could  have  come  about  only  through  such 
a  return  movement  of  Thule  peoples  from  the  eastward.  It  will  be 
sufficient  at  this  time  to  mention  only  one  important  feature  associated 
with  habitations,  the  crescent-shaped  steatite  or  sandstone  lamp ;  this 
follows  exactly  the  line  of  Point  Barrow  houses,  stopping  at  Bering 
Strait,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  the  first  recognizable  house  of  Point 
Barrow  type  was  found  at  Metlatavik. 
Considering,  therefore,  that  (i)  the  Point  Barrow  house  is  the 
farthest  removed  of  all  Alaskan  houses  from  the  general  type  which 
occurs  below  Bering  Strait,  and  (2)  that  the  features  which  set  it 
apart  from  other  Alaskan  houses  are  the  very  features  which  connect 
it  with  those  of  the  east,  and  (3)  that  the  territory  along  the  Arctic 
coast  of  Alaska  where  the  Point  Barrow  type  of  house  occurs,  par- 
ticularly at  Point  Barrow  itself,  is  the  region  in  Alaska  where  also 
the  greatest  number  of  Thule  traits  occur,  we  seem  to  have  valid 
grounds  for  assuming  a  relationship  between  the  Point  Barrow  and 
Thule  houses.  The  exact  nature  of  the  relationship,  however,  is 
obscure,  and  must  remain  so  until  information  is  available  concern- 
