NO.    I  ARCHliOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  327 
and  bear,  and  the  form  \va.s  usually  that  of  a  slcevele.ss  coat  or  jacket. 
The  slats  or  rods  of  the  wooden  armor,  except  in  the  Aleutian  Islands, 
were  fastened  together  and  often  completely  covered  over  with  fine 
cords  of  sinew  or  fiber.  The  Aleutian  armor  consisted  of  rows  of 
long  wooden  rods  lashed  together  at  the  ends. 
The  rod  and  slat  types  arc  mixed,  in  the  method  of  twining  together  the 
elements  they  are  identical.  In  some  localities  the  broad  ban4  of  rods  is  alone 
found,  while  among  the  Tlingits,  or  around  Sitka,  occur  rod  armor,  slat  armor, 
and  a  combination  of  both  types  in  the  same  piece,  as  well  as  skin  armor. 
In  form  the  Aleut  armor,  instead  of  following  the  Eskimo  type,  belongs  with 
the  rod  type  of  the  Indians.  The  perforation  of  the  rods,  however,  and  tlie 
method  of  lashing,  show  Eskimo  handiwork.    [Hough,  1895,  p.  638.] 
Information  on  the  armor  of  the  Eastern  area  is  derived  from  his- 
torical sources,  no  actual  s])ecimens  having  been  preserved.  It  is 
described  as  having  been  made  of  wooden  rods  or  slats  which,  just  as 
in  the  west,  were  sewed  or  lashed  together  with  cords.  There  is  but 
a  single  reference  to  the  use  of  skin  armor  in  the  northeast,  but  it  may 
have  been  more  widespread.  Armor  was  also  known  in  the  southeast, 
as  we  see  from  Swanton's  reference  (1928,  p.  438-439)  to  the  effect 
that  De  Soto  found  "  breastplates  like  corselets  and  head  pieces  made 
of  rawhide  "  in  a  mortuary  temple  of  the  Carolina  Indians. 
Hough's  conclusions  (p.  651)  regarding  the  origin  and  relationshi]-) 
of  North  American  armor  types  are  as  follows : 
The  coat  of  thick  skin  which  has  appeared  at  all  times  ami  places  may  have 
arisen  independently,  following  the  prime  idea  of  the  concomitance  of  weapon 
and  anti-weaiK)n,  but  ....  plate  armor  in  America  is  a  clear  case  of  the 
migration  of  invention,  its  congeners  having  been  traced  from  Japan  north- 
eastward through  the  Ainos,  Giliaks,  and  Chukchis,  across  Bering  Strait  by  the 
intervening  islands  to  the  western  Eskimo.  Here  the  armor  spread  southward 
from  the  narrowest  part  of  the  strait,  passing  into  the  slat  armor  of  the  North- 
Avest  Coast,  which  is  possibly  a  development  of  the  plate  idea.  The  plate  armor 
also  may  have  spread  to  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America.  Hence  it  appears 
to  be  conclusive  that  plate  armor  in  -America  had  Asiatic  origin. 
As  Laufer  has  shown  (1914.  ]).  262  cl  scq)  plate  armor  cannot  be 
assigned  to  either  the  Ainu  or  the  Giliak,  nor  can  the  Japanese  be 
regarded  as  the  inventors  of  this  i)articular  type  of  armor.  However, 
from  a  technological  viewpoint.  Hough  is  undoubtedly  correct  in 
assuming  a  relationship  between  the  ])late  armor  of  the  Bering  Strait 
region  and  that  of  eastern  Asia. 
According  to  Laufer  metal  armor  and  helmets  did  not  exist  in  China 
prior  to  the  Ts'in  dynasty  (255-206  B.C.).  The  defensive  armor 
of  the  archaic  period  was  made  of  rhinoceros  hide  and  in  form  was 
