NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  345 
respects.   It  shows  a  superior  art  in  lamp  sculpture As  times  go  on  ...  . 
their  habits  and  culture  change.    The  old  lamp  art  fades  away  gradually. 
The  clearer  perspective  provided  by  the  archeological  investigations 
in  the  w^est  leads  one  to  question  the  correctness  of  Birket-Smith's 
view  of  the  origin  of  the  Eskimo  lamp.  The  assumed  relationship 
between  the  stone  lamps  of  the  northern  Eskimo  and  those  of  the 
Aleut  and  Pacific  Eskimo  is  based  only  on  the  fact  that  they  are  made 
of  the  same  material.  .Structurally,  the  forms  in  the  two  regions  are 
quite  distinct.  And  since  it  now  appears  that  in  all  of  Alaska  above 
Norton  Sound,  and  verv  likely  for  some  distance  below,  there  were 
originally  no  stone  lamps  of  any  kind,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why 
the  structurally  dissimilar  forms  to  the  eastward  and  southward  should 
be  considered  as  closely  related.  On  the  other  hand,  as  de  Laguna 
has- already  pointed  out  (1934,  p.  180),  there  is  undoubtedly  a  genetic 
relationship  between  the  stone  lamps  of  south  Alaska  (Cook  Inlet, 
Kodiak,  the  Aleutian  Islands)  and  those  of  Kamchatka;  the  latter  in 
turn  are  related  to  Kurilian  forms  (Torii,  1919,  p.  201 ;  Nakayama, 
1934 — illustration  of  a  small  "  sad-iron  "  shaped  stone  lamp  from 
Shimushu,  Kurile  Ids.).  In  addition  to  the  common  feature  of  the 
suspension  hole  on  the  small  hunter's  lamp  in  the  Aleutian  Islands, 
Kamchatka,  and  the  Kuriles,  which  de  Laguna  has  pointed  out,  there 
is  also  a  general  similarity  in  size,  shape,  and  treatment  of  the  rim 
that  unites  the  south  Alaskan  and  Kamchatkan-Kurilian  lamps  and 
sets  them  apart  as  a  regional  group  distinct  from  the  crescent-shaped 
lamps  of  the  Central  and  Eastern  Eskimos. 
It  was  the  latter  type  of  lamp  that  was  introduced  into  northern 
Alaska  as  far  west  as  Bering  Strait,  and  this  Birket-Smith  would  in- 
terpret as  an  indication  that  the  Alaskan  Eskimos  "  have  brought  with 
them  an  ancient  preference  for  stone  lamps  from  elsewhere."  The 
present  evidence,  however,  shows  conclusively  that  these  stone  lamps 
have  been  imported  only  within  the  last  few  centuries.  As  has  been 
pointed  out  earlier,  there  are  strong  indications  of  a  late  return  move- 
ment of  Thule  peoples  into  northern  Alaska,  and  herein  apparently 
lies  the  explanation  of  the  soapstone  lamps  which  in  recent  times  have 
supplanted  the  older  pottery  forms.  These  late  migrants  from  the  east 
did,  indeed,  bring  with  them  a  preference  for  this  superior  type  of 
lamp,  and  later,  with  no  local  soapstone  available  for  their  manu- 
facture, continued  to  obtain  them  through  trade.  The  original  absence 
of  stone  lamps  in  this  region  is  clearly  part  of  a  cultural  pattern  and 
in  no  way  the  result  of  a  lack  of  suitable  material ;  for  although  there 
are  some  localities  between  the  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim  where  stone 
is  not  immediately  available,  there  is  everywhere  else  an  abundant 
