NO.     I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  26g 
have  seen,  differ  fundamentally  in  roof  structure  and  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  sleeping  platform.  If  we  wish  to  find  the  origin  of  the 
Mackenzie  house,  which  is  clearly  a  local  and  specialized  form,  it 
should  be  sought  in  a  house  in  which  the  roof  is  partly  vaulted  and 
supported  by  upright  timbers  and  in  which  the  sleeping  platforms 
extend  around  the  sides  along  the  floor.  It  is  exactly  this  type  of 
house  which  prevails  to  the  southward  of  Bering  Strait  and  par- 
ticularly below  Norton  Sound.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  such  a  house 
developing  into  the  Mackenzie  form,  not  through  a  joining  together 
of  two  or  more  but  merely  through  the  bringing  in  of  the  corners, 
which  would  have  resulted  in  alcoves  over  the  shortened  platforms. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  house  described  by  Simpson  (p.  258)  from 
Kotzebue  Sound  may  be  regarded  as  an  intermediate  stage  in  such  a 
transition.  It  has  the  central  fire  pit  and  the  vaulted  central  section 
of  the  roof  like  the  kashims  of  southwest  Alaska ;  the  four  upright 
roof  supports  at  the  center  are  common  to  both  the  southwest  Alaska 
and  the  Mackenzie  houses ;  and  the  low  sloping  walls  at  the  rear  and 
two  sides  produce,  in  effect,  three  recesses  as  in  the  Mackenzie  house 
even  though  these  do  not  project  separately  and  have  no  elevated 
floors.  But  recesses  with  elevated  floors,  although  not  present  in  this 
particular  house,  were,  according  to  Simpson,  very  common  on  the 
shores  of  Kotzebue  Sound.  There  seems  to  be  clear  evidence,  there- 
fore, of  relationship  between  the  Mackenzie  house  and  the  house  of 
quadrangular  shape  typical  of  southwest  Alaska,  the  Mackenzie  house 
being  apparently  a  specialized  Arctic  form  of  the  more  general  type 
of  Eskimo  dwelling  found  to  the  southward. 
Thalbitzer  (1914,  p.  361)  and  Steensby  ( 1916,  p.  194)  looked  for 
the  oi'igin  of  the  Mackenzie  house  in  Asia,  for  which  there  was  cer- 
tainly more  justification  than  in  seeking  a  relationship  with  the  Point 
Barrow  house ;  for  there  is  plainly  a  definite  relationship  between 
Alaskan  Eskimo  houses  in  general,  with  the  exception  of  the  Point 
Barrow  type,  and  those  of  northeastern  Asia.  Such  comparisons 
cannot  be  complete,  however,  as  long  as  the  American  example  cited, 
the  Mackenzie  house,  is  considered  as  an  isolated  American  type ; 
the  affinities  of  the  Mackenzie  house  are  first  with  other  Alaskan 
forms  south  of  Bering  Strait,  and  next  with  certain  forms  of  north- 
eastern Asia.  On  the  other  hand,  a  valid  comparison  must  also  dis- 
tinguish between  the  various  Asiatic  types.  In  the  following  pages 
we  shall  attempt  to  determine  in  what  particular  respects  the  houses 
of  the  Alaskan  Eskimo  are  related  to  those  of  northeastern  Asia,  be- 
ginning with  those  of  the  Chukchee  Peninsula  in  the  extreme  north- 
eastern part  of  Siberia  and  continuing  southward  to  include  the 
territory  occupied  by  the  other  Palae-Asiatic  peoples. 
