286  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
The  somewhat  older  type  of  Punuk  house  (type  2,  p.  273),  con- 
structed of  whale  bones  and  stones,  was  in  all  probability  derived  from 
Siberia,  as  nothing  like  it  is  known  from  the  Alaskan  mainland.  This 
house  resembles  the  Thule  type  in  its  use  of  stones  and  whale  bones 
as  building  material,  although  its  square  shape  and  lack  of  a  platform 
distinguish  it  from  the  Thule  houses. 
The  discovery  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  house  (type  i),  instead  of 
clarifying  the  problem  of  the  origin  and  relationships  of  Eskimo 
houses  generally,  seems  only  to  have  added  to  its  complexity,  for  the 
walls  were  formed  of  small  logs  laid  horizontally  and  held  in  place 
by  bone  and  wooden  stakes,  a  form  of  construction  unknown  in  any 
other  part  of  the  Eskimo  area,  although  outer  retaining  walls  were 
often  so  constructed.  The  Salish  houses  in  southern  British  Columbia 
have  walls  of  horizontal  planks  which  are  also  held  in  place  by  wooden 
stakes,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  a  connection  here  in  view  of  the  ab- 
sence of  anything  similar  in  the  intervening  region.  We  may,  with 
more  reason  perhaps,  seek  the  affiliations  of  this  particular  method 
of  wall  construction  in  the  Old  World,  but  direct  comparisons  cannot 
be  made  until  information  is  available  on  the  prehistoric  house  types 
of  northern  Siberia. 
Art 
The  most  striking  single  feature  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  culture  is 
its  art.  The  artistic  impulse  was  so  strong,  the  designs  so  thoroughly 
integrated  and  seemingly  deep  rooted,  that  one  feels  that  the  first 
and  most  important  step  in  determining  the  origin  of  the  culture  lies 
in  the  elucidation  of  the  art  style  which  is  so  peculiarly  its  own. 
The  distribution  of  Old  Bering  Sea  art  as  known  at  present  is 
from  St.  Lawrence  Island  northward  to  the  Diomede  Islands  and 
Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  and  thence  north  and  east  along  the  Arctic 
coast  to  Point  Hope  and  Point  Barrow.  Future  explorations  will  very 
likely  reveal  it  at  intervening  points  on  the  Arctic  coast  between 
Kotzebue  Sound  and  Barrow  and  probably  elsewhere  along  the  west 
coast  of  Seward  Peninsula.  There  is  no  indication,  however,  that  it 
ever  extended  south  of  Norton  Sound  or  even  along  the  south  coast 
of  Seward  Peninsula.  Its  southernmost  limit  seems  to  have  been  St. 
Lawrence  Island,  and  the  cultural  connections  here  have  apparently 
always  been  with  the  nearby  coast  of  Siberia  rather  than  with  Alaska. 
Although  a  sufficient  number  of  Old  Bering  Sea  objects  have  been 
found  in  Siberia  to  show  that  the  art  was  also  firmly  rooted  on  that 
side  of  Bering  Strait,  little  is  known  as  to  the  exact  provenience  of 
these  random  specimens. 
