hboliCka] ARCHEOLOGY OF WESTERN ESKIMO 169 



"At Cape Wankarem and at other places on the Siberian coast we 

 found the ruins of houses similar to those now in use by the Innuits. 

 These houses, which have been found by different travelers at many 

 places along that coast, are not at all like those used by the Tchukt- 

 chis, which, on account of the migratory habits of the reindeer 

 tribes, are so constructed that they can be taken down and put up 

 again at will." 3l 



Eay and Murdoch both speak of old sites. The very spot they 

 selected for their observatory at Barrow was one of these. Ray says 

 of it: 



"A point about 12 feet above the sea level, lying between the sea 

 and a small lagoon three- fourths of a mile northeast from Uglaamie, 

 was finally selected. The soil was firm and as dry as any unoccupied 

 place in that vicinity, and as it was marked by mounds of an ancient 

 village would be free from inundation." 32 



And farther on: 



" That the ancestors of those people have made it their home for 

 ages is conclusively shown by the ruins of ancient villages and win- 

 ter huts along the seashore and in the interior. On the point where 

 the station was established were mounds marking the site of three 

 huts dating back to the time when they had no iron and men ' talked 

 like dogs'; also at Perigniak a group of mounds mark the site of 

 an ancient village. It stands in the midst of a marsh; a sinking of 

 the land causing it to be flooded and consequently abandoned, as 

 it is their custom to select the high and dry points of land along 

 the seashore for their permanent villages. The fact of our finding 

 a pair of wooden goggles 26 feet below the surface of the earth, 

 in the shaft sunk for earth temperatures, points conclusively to the 

 great lapse of time since these shores were first peopled by the race 

 of man." 33 



The village of Sidaru, southwest of Cape Belcher, which in Rays 

 time had a population of about 50, has since gone " dead." 



The most direct attention to this subject has been given by Nelson. 

 In his excellent large memoir on " The Eskimo about Bering 

 Strait " 34 he states as follows : 



" Ruins of ancient Eskimo villages are common on the lower Yukon 

 and thence along the coast line to Point Barrow. On the Siberian 



n Hooper, C. L., Report of Arctic Cruise of the Revenue Steamer Cortcin, 1831. Wash- 

 ington, 1884, 63, 90. 



"Ray, Lieut. P. H., Report of the International Polar Expedition to Toint Barrow, 

 Alaska. Washington, 1885, 22. 



"Ray, P. H., Ethnographic Sketch of the Natives. Report of the International Tolar 

 Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, 1885, 37. 



M Eighteenth Ann. Kept Bur. Amer. Eth., pt. 1, Washington, 1900, 2G3 et seq. 



88253°— 50 12 



