hbdliCka] AKCHEOLOGY OF WESTERN ESKIMO 173 



experienced observer; and if there is anything still more ancient, it 

 lies somewhere in the old sands and beaches where, except through 

 some fortunate accident, it can not be discovered. Except for their 

 surface, the remains are generally frozen hard, and no excavation is 

 possible except through gradual exposure and the melting of layer 

 after layer by the warmth of the sun or a melting of the ground 

 with water or by some other artificial means. 



Some at least of these ruins are rich archeologically. They greatly 

 exceed in this respect a large majority of village ruins and mounds 

 in the interior of the continent. This appears from their gradual 

 excavation by the natives at Barrow, Point Hope, St. Lawrence 

 Island, and elsewhere. The natives have now for many years been 

 selling thousands of articles thus obtained to traders, teachers, and 

 crews of visiting vessels. A regular and growing trade detrimental 

 to archeology is now being carried on in " fossil ivory," which gen- 

 erally consists of pieces showing human workmanship and occasion- 

 ally includes specimens of rare beauty and importance. 



The archeological contents of such old sites as that near Savonga 

 on the St. Lawrence Island, or those at Wales, Point Hope, Barrow, 

 etc., are varied, and in instances exceedingly interesting. They com- 

 prise a large variety of objects of stone, ivory, bone, and wood, while 

 in the more superficial layers are also found occasionally glass beads 

 or objects of metal. Some ruins, such as those at Point Hope and 

 Kotzebue, are very rich in stone objects; others, as those at the St. 

 Lawrence Island, are rich in articles of ivory and bone. Pottery is 

 generally scarce. Articles of stone comprise mainly points, knives, 

 adzes, and lamps; those of wood, goggles and masks: of bone, various 

 parts of sleds, a large assortment of snow and meat picks, and scrap- 

 ers: of ivory, barbed points, harpoons, and lance heads, and a large 

 variety of tools, fetishes, and ceremonial objects; of clay, a few dishes 

 and pots for culinary purposes. Traces of objects made of whalebone 

 or even birch bark may also appear. 



The stones used were mainly slate and flint, but there may also 

 be met with quartz, quartzite, and especially the Kobuk " jade." 

 The workmanship is as a rule good to excellent. The arrow points 

 show a number of interesting, not yet fully known, types, the long 

 blade with parallel sides predominating. The stone lamps and rare 

 dishes also need further study. The knives all approach the Asiatic 

 semilunar variety. 



The bones and wooden objects and the pottery from this region 

 are fairly well covered by the writings of Ray, Murdoch, Nelson, 

 Rau, Thomas, and others; the masks need further study. 



The most interesting archeological specimens from the region of 

 the western Eskimo, however, are some of those in " fossil ivory," 

 the term being applied to walrus ivory that through long lying in 



