318 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA [ETH. ANN. 46 



A STRANGE GROUP OF ESKIMO NEAR POINT BARROW 



In 1917-1919, in the course of the John Wanamaker Expedition for 

 the University Museum, Philadelphia, W. B. Van Valin, with the 

 help of Charles Brower, the well-known local trader and collector, 

 excavated near Barrow a group of six tumuli, which proved in the 

 opinion of Van Valin to be so many old igloos, containing plentiful 

 cultural as well as skeletal material. The collections eventually 

 reached the museum, but due to lack of facilities they were in the 

 main never unpacked. 



I heard of this material first from Mr. Brower, with whom I sailed 

 in 1926 from Barrow southward, and later with Dr. J. Alden Mason 

 I saw the collection still in the original boxes, at the University 

 Museum. In April of this year the skeletal remains were transferred 

 to the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, and after their transfer I 

 obtained the permission of Dr. Milton J. Greenman, director of the 

 Wistar Institute, to examine the material, which was of importance 

 to him in connection with his own collections from Barrow and south- 

 ward. A due acknowledgment for the privilege is hereby rendered 

 to both Doctor Greenman and Doctor Mason. 



The study proved one of unexpected and uncommon interest. The 

 material was found to consist of two separate lots. The first of these 

 consisted of a considerable number of brown colored, more or less 

 complete skeletons with skulls, proceeding from the " igloos'' ; while 

 the second lot comprised a series of whitened isolated skulls, without 

 other skeletal parts and mostly even without the component lower 

 jaws, gathered on the tundra near Barrow. At first sight, also, 

 the skulls of the two groups were seen to present important 

 differences. 



The " igloo " crania, while plainly pure Eskimo, proved to be of a 

 decidedly exceptional nature for this location. The skulls, in brief, 

 were not of the general western Eskimo type, but reminded at once 

 strongly of the skulls from Greenland and Labrador. And they were 

 exceptionally uniform, showing that they belonged to a definite and 

 distinct Eskimo group. 



After writing of this to Doctor Mason, he kindly sent me a copy of 

 the notes and observations on the discovery of the material by W. B. 

 Van Valin, who was in charge of the excavation. The detailed notes 

 will soon be published by Doctor Mason. The main information they 

 convey is as follows : 



The excavations by Van Valin date from 1918-19. They were made 

 in six large " heaps,'' approximately 8 miles southwest of Barrow and 

 about 1,000 yards back from the beach on the tundra. Two of the 

 heaps were on the northern and four on the southern side of a ravine 



