366  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COI-LECTIONS  VOL.    96 
from  the  old  Barrow  sites  have  conical  taiigs  which  are  either  plain 
or  provided  with  a  shoulder,  like  the  Old  Bering  Sea  specimens, 
whereas  the  later  Barrow  specimens  have  small  knol)s  on  the  tang, 
a  feature  which  is  also  characteristic  of  many  of  the  Thule  arrow- 
heads. On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  availahle  evidence  points  clearly 
to  the  Birnirk  culture  being  in  part,  at  least,  contemporaneous  with 
the  Old  Bering  Sea  culture.  It  shows  also  that  there  is  no  basis  for 
the  assumption  that  it  is  the  prehistoric  rather  than  the  modern  phase 
of  Eskimo  culture  at  Barrow  that  is  especially  close  to  the  Thule  cul- 
ture. On  the  contrary,  the  modern  Point  Barrow  culture  appears  to 
be  much  closer  to  the  Thule  than  is  the  Birnirk. 
The  fact  that  the  modern  or  protohistoric  phases  of  north  Alaskan 
culture  possess  a  number  of  important  Thule  elements  that  are  lack- 
ing in  the  older  cultures — Birnirk,  Old  Bering  Sea,  Punuk — is  a 
crucial  point  with  regard  to  the  status  of  the  Thule  culture  in  Alaska. 
These  elements  are :  soapstone  lamps,  objects  connected  with  dog 
traction,  small  ivory  bird  figures,  drilled  lashing  holes  on  harpoon 
heads  and  rivet  holes  for  the  blade.  How  are  we  to  account  for  the 
fact  that  these  typical  Thule  elements  are  prominent  in  the  later  cul- 
ture of  the  northern  Alaskan  Eskimo  but  are  not  found  at  any  of  the 
older  sites?  If  the  Thule  culture  has  an  antiquity  even  approaching 
the  thousand  years  assigned  it  by  A'lathiassen,  the  only  satisfactory 
explanation  would  seem  to  be  that  already  suggested  by  the  writer 
(Collins,  1929,  pp.  43,  44;  1934b,  pp.  310,  311  ;  1935.  pp.  463,  464), 
namely,  that  these  elements,  and  doubtless  others  also,  were  intro- 
duced into  northern  Alaska  within  the  past  few  centuries  by  a  late 
return  migration  of  Thule  Eskimos  subsequent  to  the  original  east- 
ward spread  of  the  Thule  culture." 
As  was  pointed  out  earlier,  there  is  a  strong  probability  that  the 
modern  Point  Barrow  type  of  house  is  also  one  of  these  later  in- 
trusive elements,  for  the  very  features  that  set  it  apart  from  other 
Alaskan  houses — a  gabled  roof  and  a  single  wide  rear  platform — are 
those  that  connect  it  with  the  houses  of  the  east.  Furthermore,  the 
Point  Barrow  house  in  its  most  typical  form  is  restricted  to  the 
Arctic  coast  of  Alaska,  the  region  where  the  greatest  number  of  these 
supposed  Thule  traits  have  found  lodgment. 
"  In  the  previous  publications  above  referred  to  I  included  pictographic  art 
as  one  of  the  elements  introduced  into  northern  Alaska  by  a  late  return  flow  of 
Thule  culture.  However,  in  the  summer  of  1936  I  found  several  examples  of 
this  art  at  the  old  mound  site  at  Wales,  a  site  which  definitely  antedates  the 
postulated  reflex  movement  of  Thule  culture. 
