120 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 60 



istics of the graphic art of the living tribes as embodied in painting, 

 engraving, and weaving. Copper was and still is worked with 

 considerable skill, and although the native metal occurs within the 

 area, it is not known to what extent it was mined and utilized before 

 the coming of the whites. Certain features of the arts— practical, 

 religious, and ornamental — are thought to suggest inspiration from 

 the Pacific islands, but if this is shown to be the case we shall still 

 be unable to say whether that influence may not have been exerted 

 exclusively during tlie rather long period since modern seagoing 

 vessels began to ply back and forth on the Pacific. Traces of 

 advanced Asiatic art are occasionally encountered along the coast, 

 but these may be attributed to the stranding of vessels carried across 

 the Pacific by the Japan current rather than to purposeful voyages 

 in prehistoric times. 



The peculiar geography of the country has doubtless served in 

 conjunction with its exceptional vegetal and animal resources to 

 develop the unusual ability and enteri:)rise of the peoi)le. Indeed, if 

 a greatly diversified coast line tends, as some have hehl, to accelerate 

 the culture progress of peoples, the inhabitants of this region should 

 rank high among American nations. 



The archeologist can lay little exclusive claim to the antiquities 



of the region, since nearly all the known forms of 



Scant Archeoiogi- j^.^^j^g artifacts appear to have been in use since the 



cal Evidence _ \ ^ 



coming of the whites, and these have given way only 

 gradually to the encroachments of iron and steel. Scientific re- 

 searches within the area ha^e hardly touched the problems of 

 antiquit}^, and no evidence serving to carry the liistory of man 

 into the remote past has been obtained. The culture, so far 

 as observed, appears to be decidedly homogeneous and with slight 

 trace of antecedent forms of art either lower or higher than the 

 historic. It is believed by some authorities that certain elements of 

 the population entered the area from the highland valleys on the 

 east. Although this region lies along the most likely trail of peoples 

 entering America by way of Bering Strait, nothing has been observed 

 in the culture of the people suggesting migrations fi'om the north, 

 and no characteristic features that might not have arisen within the 

 local environment or from possible intrusions within a few hundred 

 years. 



Original investigators of this area who have contributed informa- 

 tion regarding the native culture and antiquities are Vancouver, 

 Swan, Niblack, Boas, Emmons, Smith, Swanton, Curtis, and others. 



10. The Arctic Coast Area 



The arctic characterization area extends from Greenland on the 

 east to farthest Alaska on the west, and from the toi-tuous northern 



