346  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
supply  of  the  same  kinds  of  stone  that  the  Aleuts  and  Pacific  Eskimos 
have  always  used  in  the  manufacture  of  their  lamps. 
From  Mathiassen's  investigations  it  appears  highly  probable  that 
the  earlier  form  of  the  soapstone  lamp  was  the  rounded  crescent- 
shaped  form  of  the  Thule  culture,  which  had  its  prototype  in  the 
rounded  pottery  lamp  of  the  West.  The  long  crescent-shaped  modern 
form,  which  was  introduced  into  Alaska,  would  then  be  a  late  special- 
ization, a  lamp  which,  as  Hough  has  said  (1898,  p.  1038),  is  adapted 
to  the  high  and  rigorous  north  and  which  has  arisen  as  "  the  result 
of  an  attempt  to  devise  a  vessel  with  a  long,  nearly  straight  wick  edge 
combined  with  a  reservoir." 
The  origin  of  the  modern  St.  Lawrence  lamp  is  somewhat  uncertain. 
The  rounded-rectangular  shape  and  the  two  parallel  ridges  distinguish 
it  from  all  other  Eskimo  lamps  save  the  related  forms  from  adjacent 
northeastern  Siberia  (e.  g.,  Bogoras,  1904-09,  p.  186,  fig.  103).  How- 
ever, tlie  position  of  the  ridges,  close  to  the  rim,  suggests  a  relationship 
with  the  Thule  lamps  (Mathiassen,  1927,  vol.  2,  p.  loi).  This  be- 
comes more  apparent  when  we  consider  that  stone  and  clay  lamps 
closely  related  to  the  Thule  type  are  found  among  the  neighboring 
Siberian  Eskimo  and  Chukchee  (Hough,  1898,  pi.  17;  Nelson,  1899, 
pi.  28,  fig.  3;  Bogoras,  1904-09,  fig.  102)  ;  and  according  to  Nelson 
similar  lamps  are  used  on  the  Diomede  Islands  (p.  63).  Mathiassen 
comments  upon  the  fact  that  the  Thule  lamp,  although  present  in 
Siberia,  does  not  occur  in  Alaska  even  at  Point  Barrow,  where  so  many 
Thule  traits  are  to  be  found.  As  we  have  already  observed,  a  similar 
condition  is  found  with  regard  to  the  Thule  type  3  harpoon  head, 
drilled  lashing  holes  around  the  socket,  and  small  ivory  bird  figures. 
On  the  whole,  the  present  evidence  points  to  the  modern  St.  Law- 
rence clay  lamp  as  being  a  local  specialization,  the  immediate  prototype 
of  which  is  the  more  rounded  Siberian  form,  also  of  clay  but  with  a 
single  wick  ledge.  This,  in  turn,  appears  to  be  either  a  copy,  in  pottery, 
of  the  stone  Thule  lamp  or  the  prototype  from  which  the  Thule  form 
was  derived.  The  former  explanation  would  appear  the  more  reason- 
able in  view  of  the  fact  that  wick  ledges  in  general  seem  to  be  a  late 
feature,  but  the  alternative  explanation  should  not  be  ruled  out  until 
archeological  data  are  available  for  northeastern  Siberia. 
The  exact  form  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  cooking  pot  is  unknown ;  we 
only  know  that  it  was  a  steep-sided  pottery  vessel  with  rounded,  or 
very  rarely,  a  flat  bottom,  probably  resembling  the  ancient  Koryak  type 
(Jochelson,  1905-08,  fig.  165)  which,  like  the  Neolithic  pots  in  other 
parts  of  Siberia,  also  had  a  rounded  bottom  (Jochelson,  1928,  p.  30). 
The  Siberian  and  modern  Alaskan  pots  of  round  shape  but  with  flat 
bottoms  are  no  doubt  later. 
