304  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
merits  with  which,  in  all  probability,  the  lines  on  the  Punuk  pieces 
were  engraved,  though  as  yet  we  have  none  of  the  implements  that 
were  used  in  making  the  circles. 
Except  for  these  iron-pointed  engraving  tools,  the  only  other  evi- 
dence of  metal  at  the  old  sites  was  furnished  by  the  ivory  knife  handles 
described  on  page  146,  the  sockets  of  which  seemed  designed  for  metal 
blades.  Other  cutting  and  piercing  tools — knives,  scrapers,  harpoons, 
arrows,  adzes,  etc. — were  provided  with  stone  blades,  which  were 
found  in  large  numbers  at  all  of  the  sites.  Apparently,  when  metal 
in  small  quantities  first  reached  St.  Lawrence  Island,  it  was  so  treasured 
that  it  was  used  only  for  the  most  delicate  work ;  only  after  contacts 
with  the  Russians  had  been  established  were  the  ordinary  types  of 
implements  equipped  with  iron  blades. 
The  question  that  now  arises  is  the  source  from  which  the  Eskimos 
of  the  Punuk  stage  derived  their  iron.  As  was  pointed  out  previously 
the  conditions  at  Punuk  Island  and  Cape  Kialegak,  to  say  nothing  of 
Gambell,  were  such  as  definitely  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  its 
having  been  obtained  from  the  Russians  either  directly  or  indirectly ; 
for  the  Cossacks  did  not  reach  northeastern  Siberia  until  about  300 
years  ago,  and  yet  Punuk  art,  with  its  metal  engraved  lines,  was  found 
even  in  the  lowest  levels  of  the  i6-and  18-foot  middens  at  Punuk 
Island  and  Cape  Kialegak.  Furthermore,  according  to  every  indica- 
tion the  Punuk  midden  had  been  abandoned  for  around  200  years.  It 
seems  obvious  therefore  that  iron  in  small  quantities  must  have  been 
introduced  on  St.  Lawrence  Island  some  centuries  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Russians  in  northeastern  Siberia  early  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  exact  source  of  the  metal  must  for  the  present  remain  in  doubt, 
but  since  there  is  historical  evidence  that  iron  was  being  used  in  China 
around  500  B.  C.  (Bishop,  1932,  p.  630),  and  since  it  has  an  even 
greater  antiquity  in  central  Asia,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should 
not  also  have  reached  the  more  northerly  tribes  at  a  later  date,  possibly 
in  the  early  centuries  of  the  present  era.  In  fact,  from  a  Chinese  ref- 
erence cited  by  Laufer  (1914,  p.  262  et  seq),  it  appears  that  iron 
was  known  to  at  least  one  of  the  tribes  to  the  north  of  China  in  the 
third  century  A.  D.  These  were  the  Su-shen,  a  barbarian  tribe  dwell- 
ing somewhere  north  of  Korea,  who  in  A.  D.  262  sent  to  China  a 
tribute  consisting  of  bows,  arrows,  crossbows,  and  suits  of  armor 
made  of  leather,  bone,  and  iron."  If  iron  was  as  common  as  this 
reference  would  seem  to  indicate,  one  might  reasonably  suppose  that 
'*  Laufer's  statement  is  quoted  on  p.  329  in  the  section  on  plate  armor.  For 
a  fuller  account  of  this  incident,  and  of  the  Su-shen  themselves  see  Ikeuchi 
(1930,  pp.  97-163)  ;  reference  on  p.  136. 
