166 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA ftsra. ANN. 46 



In 1912 V. Stefiinsson excavated at Barrow. 27 Having two months 

 to spend at this place he engaged numerous Eskimo of the village and 

 had them excavate the native village sites in the neighborhood. He 

 says (p. 388) : " It was a small army that turned out to dig wherever 

 there was a ruin or a kitchen midden, and they worked energetically 

 and well. While the excavations were not done as methodically and 

 scientifically as could have been wished, still we were able to get from 

 them a collection of over 20,000 archaeological specimens within the 

 space of six weeks. This collection (which is now safely stored in 

 the American Museum of Natural History) brings out many signifi- 

 cant and some revolutionary ideas with regard to the prehistoric 

 history of the Eskimo. My method was to dig as much as possible 

 myself, and to go around as best I could to see the others at work. In 

 many cases I was able to see the exact position from which the im- 

 portant finds were taken." The specimens have since in part been 

 described by Wissler. 28 Stefiinsson brought also some archeological 

 specimens from Point Hope, where, however, no excavations were 

 made; and collected a valuable series of crania from Point Barrow. 



In 1917-19 excavations near Barrow were conducted by W. B. Van 

 Valin, leader of the John Wanamaker expedition to northwestern 

 Alaska, for the University Museum at Philadelphia. The excava- 

 tions were made in some mounds located about 8 miles southwest of 

 Barrow and about 1,000 yards back from the beach on the tundra, 

 and uncovered six old igloos containing, aside from many cultural 

 objects, the skeletal remains of 83 individuals. These remains have 

 since been found to be those of an intrusive group of people and to 

 be of special interest. 29 



In 1924 Kasmussen during the last parts of his great journey 

 gathered numerous archeological specimens at Point Hope and from 

 other localities •fclong the west coasts of Alaska. 



In 1926, finally, the year of my survey, some careful initial excava- 

 tions, with very interesting results, were carried on at Wales and 

 on the Little Diomede Island by Dr. D. Jenness, of the National 

 Museum of Canada, Ottawa. A preliminary report on the results 

 of this work has been published in the annual report of the National 

 Museum of Canada for 1926. 



Besides such more professional work a good deal of archeological 

 collection has been done in the regions under consideration by local 

 people, particularly traders and teachers; and the demand for speci- 



37 My Life with the Eskimo. N. T.. 1913, 387. 388. See also his The Stefansson-Ander- 

 son Arctic Expedition : Preliminary Ethnological Report. Anthrop. Papers Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., XIV, N. Y., 1914. 



28 Wissler, Clark, Harpoons and Darts in the Stefiinsson Collection. Anthrop. Papers 

 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., N. Y., 1916, XIV, 401-443. 



28 See section devoted to this find, p. 318. 



