NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND — COLLINS  369 
of  skulls,  the  similarity  between  the  last  groups  in  the  table  [i.  e.  between 
Naujan,  modern  Point  P.arrow,  and  Southampton  Island]  is  decidedly  greater 
than  that  between  the  first  two  [Naujan  and  the  "old  igloo"  crania]  ;  in  par- 
ticular the  skulls  from  Naujan  and  from  recent  graves  at  Point  Barrow  exhibit 
great  similarity — almost  identical  figures  as  regards  the  cranial  measurements — 
whereas  the  old  Point  Barrow  skulls  are  considerably  longer,  narrower  and 
higher. 
.A.S  regards  the  build  of  the  nose,  too,  the  identity  between  the  recent  Point 
P>arrow  skulls  and  the  Naujan  skulls  is  almost  complete,  whereas  there  is  a 
great  difference  between  the  nasal  measurements  of  these  two  groups  and  of 
the  old  Point  Barrow  skulls.  There  is  also  a  pronounced  difference  between 
the  nasion-basion  measurements,  and  doubtless  the  other  length  measurements : 
glabella-lambda  and  glabella-inion,  as  well  as  the  frontal  measurements  will 
exhibit  differences.  There  can  scarcely  be  any  near  relationship  between  the 
Naujan  group  and  those  from  the  old  Point  Barrow  graves — the  differences 
in  the  above  important  measurements  are  too  considerable,  especially  having 
regard  to  how  closely  related  most  Eskimo  tribes  are.  [Fischer-Miller,  1937, 
pp.  65-66.] 
The  evidence  of  physical  anthropology,  therefore,  is  hardly  less 
striking  than  that  afforded  by  linguistics.  Taking  all  of  the  evidence — 
jihysical.  linguistic,  and  cultural — there  seems  ample  ground  for  as- 
suming a  close  relationship  betw^een  modern  Point  Barrow  and  eastern 
Eskimo  culture,  a  relationship  which  apparently  can  be  best  explained 
by  postulating  a  re-entry  of  Thule  peoples  into  northern  Alaska  within 
the  past  few  centuries.  Such  a  return  movement  could  most  readily 
account  for  the  observed  conditions  with  regard  to  linguistics,  where 
we  find  that  the  dialects  of  northern  Alaska  are  more  closely  related 
to  those  of  Greenland  and  Labrador  than  to  those  of  neighboring 
groups  south  of  Bering  .Strait.  With  regard  to  somatology  the  prac- 
tical identity  of  the  prehistoric  Thule  and  the  modern  Point  Barrow 
Eskimos  and  the  corresponding  dissimilarity  between  these  and  the 
prehistoric  population  at  Point  Barrow  is  a  condition  pointing  in 
the  same  direction  and  indicating  closer  contacts  within  the  past  few 
centtu'ies  than  during  the  time  when  the  Birnirk  and  Old  Bering  Sea 
cultures  were  established  along  the  northern  shores  of  Bering  Sea 
and  the  Arctic  coast  of  Alaska.  .\s  for  culture,  the  evidence  is  even 
more  compelling,  for  the  absence  at  the  prehistoric  Alaskan  sites  of 
such  characteristic  Thule  elements  as  soapstone  lamps  and  vessels, 
small  ivory  bird  figures,  objects  connected  with  dog  traction,  drilled 
lashing  and  rivet  holes  on  harpoon  heads,  and  the  common  occurrence 
of  these  same  elements  in  the  culture  of  the  modern  Eskimos  of 
northern  Alaska  can  apparently  be  explained  only  on  the  basis  of  a 
relatively  late  east  to  west  movement. 
The  hypothesis  that  the  north  coast  of  Alaska  has  been  subjected 
to  a  relatively  late  wave  of  migration  from  the  eastward  would  serve 
