3/0  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
to  explain  in  large  part  the  rather  sharp  line  of  demarcation  between 
Alaskan  Eskimo  culture  north  and  south  of  Norton  Sound.  A  more 
important  implication,  but  one  that  would  naturally  follow,  would 
be  that  we  are  here  provided  with  at  least  a  partial  explanation  of  one 
of  the  most  striking  phenomena  of  Eskimo  culture,  namely,  its  re- 
markable uniformity.  This  homogeneity,  both  with  regard  to  language 
and  culture,  which  has  been  so  often  remarked  upon  and  interpreted 
as  indicating  the  recency  of  Eskimo  culture,  may  instead  be  itself 
a  recent  condition,  brought  about  through  the  leveling  influences  of 
a  late  wave  of  Thule  culture  from  the  eastward.  Prior  to  this  there 
was  probably  greater  diversity  of  culture  in  the  American  Arctic;  this 
would  be  true  particularly  of  the  earlier  period  when  the  Old  Bering 
Sea  and  Dorset  cultures  occupied  the  regions  of  Bering  Strait  and 
Hudson  Bay,  respectively. 
If  such  a  leveling  influence  was  exerted  in  the  manner  suggested 
it  would  vitiate  completely,  for  this  particular  area,  the  method  of 
approach  that  seeks  to  determine  the  age  of  an  element  on  the  basis 
of  its  geographical  distribution ;  for  in  this  instance,  as  indeed  may 
often  be  the  case,  the  more  localized  elements  must  be  regarded  as 
older  than  the  more  widespread,  superimposed  elements.  (Collins, 
T932,  pp.  118-119). 
It  might  also  be  inquired  whether  the  postulated  late  flow  of  Thule 
culture  into  northern  Alaska  might  not  be  responsible  in  large  measure 
for  the  conditions  that  led  to  the  formulation  of  the  theory  that  the 
Eskimos  coming  from  the  eastward  in  relatively  recent  times,  had 
entered  as  a  wedge  at  Bering  Strait,  breaking  off  an  earlier  connection 
between  the  Palae- Asiatic  tribes  of  Siberia  and  the  Indian  tribes  of 
the  Northwest  Coast  (Boas,  1905).  Mythology  furnishes  the  prin- 
cipal evidence  of  such  a  former  relationship.  In  material  and  social 
culture  the  Chukchee  are  very  close  to  the  Eskimos,  and  a  strong- 
Eskimo  influence  can  also  be  detected  among  the  Koryak  (Jochelson. 
1905-08,  vol.  I,  p.  359).  With  regard  to  mythology,  however,  the 
Eskimo  influence  is  practically  restricted  to  the  Chukchee,  the  myth- 
ology of  the  Koryak  and  Kamchadal  being  very  close  to  that  of  the 
Northwest  Coast  Indians  (Bogoras,  1902,  pp.  637,  669,  670,  683). 
In  summarizing  the  results  of  the  Jesup  expedition.  Boas  (1905,  pp. 
97-99)  cites  the  following  evidence  as  pointing  to  such  a  conclusion : 
The  culture  of  the  Chukchee,  who  inhabit  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  [North 
Asia],  is  quite  similar  to  that  of  the  Eskimo,  with  the  important  exception  that 
the  Chukchee  are  reindeer-breeders,  while  the  Eskimo  are  purely  hunters.  The 
similarity  between  the  life  of  the  Chukchee  and  that  of  the  neighboring  Koryak 
is   great,   although   the   characteristic   Eskimo    features   tend   to  disappear.     An 
