de Laguna] ARCHEOLOGY, YAKUT AT BAY AREA, ALASKA 25 



pits were encountered below the floor level. The clearing extends 

 about 300 feet along the stream and is about 160 feet wide. Unfortu- 

 nately, it was onty as we were leaving that we noticed what appeared 

 to be a much older house pit in the dense wood west of the clearing. 



Material from Nessudat included: A cylindrical beach cobble used 

 as a pestle (pi. 10, k), a hammerstone (N/10), a fragmentary siltstone 

 whetstone (N/2), a small iron ball, 2.7 cm. in diameter (N/1), an iron 

 spike and an iron nail (N/5), some small green, small white, and large 

 white glass beads (N/6), and some fragments of English soft paste 

 porcelain. These all came from the test hole in the house pit. From 

 the midden on the riverbank were: a fragment of copper sheeting 

 (N/14), a broad flat piece of iron, possibly from a can, folded and 

 shaped into a loiife or scraper (N/20), and an iron knife blade (pi. 4, i). 

 Other items from the midden were : a clear glass liquor bottle, remains 

 of a tm can, a large white bead (N/7), a blue glass bead (N/8), and 

 an iron spike. 



On the ocean beach near Nessudat was found an iron spearhead 

 which we were able to borrow from the finder for sketching (see fig. 

 13, d). 



19. On the ocean side of the west branch, one-fourth of a mile above 

 its confluence with Little Lost River, is the site of Diyaguna'Et, an 

 Eyak word meaning "Salt water comes in here" (pi. 1,6). It origi- 

 nally belonged to the L'uxedi or Muddy Water People, and after 

 changing hands several tunes, was finally acquired by the Bear House 

 lineage of the Tlingit Teqwedi. It became their principal village 

 under l^atgawet, although the latter is reported to have lived in his 

 own house farther upstream at a place called ''Strawberry Leaf" in 

 Eyak. The village was visited by smallpox in 1836-39, but a number 

 of inhabitants survived. During Teqwedi occupation, the village 

 is supposed to have consisted of three or more houses, surrounded by 

 a pahsade. We were told the names of seven houses, but since one 

 hneage house might have several names, we do not know how many 

 actual buildings were imphed. The village was inhabited up to about 

 100 years ago. One of the houses apparently had a carved bear 

 figure above the door, or on a post that served as the doorway. 



The site is on a sandbank about 100 yards long, 50 yards wide, 

 and 20 feet high, which is now being undercut by the stream. The 

 midden deposit of humus, charcoal, and fire-cracked rocks is from 

 4 to 18 inches deep in most places, but in one spot the bank has caved 

 away to expose an old house pit containing a cultural deposit about 

 48 inches deep. In this fill were found a broken barbed slate blade 

 (see fig. 14, ^■) and a fragment of a slate ulo or scraper (49-25-108), at 

 depths of 24 and 30 inches. 



On top of the bank were three house pits, measuring 32 by 32 feet 



