de Laguna] ARCHEOLOGY, YAKUTAT BAY AREA, ALASKA 175 



secretly luanipulated by strings uiul wliich play sucli an important 

 part in northwestern Alaskan Eskimo ceremonies and in the per- 

 formances of central Northwest Coast secret societies. Human 

 figurines from the lower levels of Kodiak with jointed, movable limbs 

 suggest similar practices (Heizer, 1956, p. 56, p. 79). Corpse or 

 skeleton marionettes, like those of the Nootka whale ritualist, may 

 also be represented on Kodiak (in ''Intermediate Levels") and 

 Kachemak Bay III (de Laguna, 1934, pp. 43 f., 46, 113; 1956, p. 95; 

 HrdliSka, 1944, fig. 40, p. 351; Heizer, 1956, p. 77). 



Most southwestern Alaskan shaman's dolls, like the example 

 described by our Yakutat informants, evidently combined the notion 

 of portraying the familiar spirit of the shaman with the inanimate 

 figurine which the shaman's power could bring to life. 



WOODEN VESSELS AND BARK 



WOODEN VESSELS 



Fragments of two kinds of small wooden boxes or dishes were found 

 at Old Town. The first type is represented by the oval bottom of 

 what was apparently a cylindrical vessel (fig. 23, c), found just above 

 the floor of House 9 in Old Town HI. It measures 8.1 by 7.2 cm. in 

 diameter, and is flanged to fit inside the wall of the box. Presumably 

 the latter was a thin bent plank, to which it was fastened by the fine 

 copper nails still present in the bottom piece. 



The second type of box or dish is represented by fragments of at 

 least two square or rectangular vessels on or just above the floor of the 

 Storage House in Old Town III (fig. 23, a, b, h'). Both were small, 

 the maximum dimensions apparently not exceeding 30 cm. On 

 both, the side was a single plank, 1 to 1.2 cm. thick and about 6 

 cm. high, evidently grooved or kerfed and bent at three corners, the 

 ends sewn together at the fourth. There were holes and a flange 

 along the lower edge, so that the side could fit around and be pegged 

 to the bottom piece. The side on one vessel was uneven in height, 

 rising at one point, and this specimen may have been a dish rather 

 than a box. 



Wooden vessels like the second type from Old Town are characteris- 

 tic of the Northwest Coast, but the rounded shape of the first is not, 

 except for dishes, carved from one piece of wood. The Chugach, 

 however, made both round and square boxes and dishes with a single 

 bent plank for the side, and a pegged-in morticed bottom (Birket- 

 Smith, 1953, fig. 27, pp. 57 ff.). The Yakutat specimens, taken 

 together, resemble Chugach vessels more closely than they do those 

 of their southern neighbors. 



Square or rectangular boxes, with the side made of a single plank, 

 are characteristic of the Northwest Coast and represent the most 



