296  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
formalized.  In  attempting  to  interpret  this  condition,  however,  we 
are  confronted  with  the  difficulty  that  immediately  arises  when  an 
explanation  is  sought  for  simple  and  generalized  resemblances  of  any 
kind.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  formal  and  conventional  spurred  line 
and  alternating  spur  designs  of  the  modern  Eskimo  are  genetically 
related  to  the  comparable  designs  that  have  been  employed  in  parts 
of  northern  Eurasia  from  Neolithic  to  modern  times.  But  whether 
a  similar  relationship  may  have  existed  between  Old  Bering  Sea  style 
I  and  Paleolithic  art  is  problematical,  not  only  because  of  the  simplicity 
and  instability  of  these  particular  designs  but  also  because  our 
knowledge  of  this  earliest  phase  of  Eskimo  art  is  still  so  meager. 
We  can  only  point  to  the  significant  fact  that  in  the  two  oldest  known 
phases  of  Eskimo  art — the  Old  Bering  Sea  and  Dorset — the  modern, 
stereotyped  line  and  spur  designs  do  not  occur;  that  they  were  pre- 
ceded by  a  related  but  more  generalized  ornamentation  employing  the 
same  elements ;  and  that  the  latter  ornamentation  seems  to  show 
closer  stylistic  affinities  with  Paleolithic  art  than  with  later  styles  in 
either  America  or  Eurasia. 
If  we  extend  our  search  to  eastern  Asia  we  fail  to  find  a  general 
distribution  of  the  line  and  spur  motives  comparable  to  that  observed 
in  northern  Eurasia,  and  when  they  do  occur,  it  is  in  the  Amur  region, 
Kamchatka,  and  the  Kurile  Islands,  where  northern  influences  have 
been  the  strongest.  Thus,  both  the  spurred  line  and  the  alternate 
spur  are  known  to  the  Gilyak  (Laufer,  1902,  pp.  8-11 ;  Karutz,  1925, 
p.  33,  fig.  II,  23)  and  the  Ainu  (Torii,  1919,  pi.  17,  D).  From  a  pre- 
historic site  in  Kamchatka,  Jochelsdn  figures  a  bone  belt  buckle  with 
a  zigzag  band  formed  of  alternating  triangles ;  this  encloses  an  inter- 
woven ribbon  design  suggestive  of  old  Scandinavian  art  (Jochelson, 
1928,  pi.  16,  fig.  8).  From  another  prehistoric  Kamchatkan  site  comes 
a  bone  object  ornamented  with  rows  of  alternating  spurs  (Nakayama, 
1934,  pi.  4,  and  fig.  13,  10).  Torii  figures  a  bone  needle  case  with 
a  simple  decoration  including  spurred  lines,  which  was  excavated  from 
a  Neolithic  site  on  the  Kurile  Islands  (1919,  pi.  32,  B,  3),  also  a 
bone  belt  buckle  ( ])1.  32,  B,  i)  with  a  decoration  similar  to  the  one  from 
Kamchatka  obtained  by  Jochelson;  both  this  object  and  a  bone  comb 
(pi.  ;^2,  A,  i)  have  the  interlaced  ribbon  design,  which,  however,  is 
better  executed  than  on  the  Kamchatkan  specimen  and  closer  to  the 
old  Norse  designs.  Three  more  bone  objects  with  this  same  ribbon 
design  have  been  excavated  recently  in  the  Kuriles  (Baba,  1934, 
pi.  I,  figs.  I,  4,  6).  Figure  3  of  the  same  plate  is  the  bone  comb 
previously  referred  to  (p.  78)  bearing  a  double  line  and  dot  orna- 
mentation reminiscent  of  Old  Bering  Sea  art. 
