328 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA [KEH. ANN. 46 



those of the Igloo group. The male bones of the two series are almost 

 identical, except that the Igloo bones are somewhat stronger. 



Such close resemblances can hardly be fortuitous. They speak 

 strongly for the basic identity of the old Igloo people with those of at 

 least parts of the Seward Peninsula and parts of the northwest 

 coast. If we take the bones from the Seward Peninsula alone (see 

 p. 314) it is found that these resemblances still hold. 



The evidence thus shown constitutes a strong indication that the 

 old Igloo group may be inherently related to that part of the Eskimo 

 population of Seward Peninsula which shows the long and narrow 

 skull; but the data offer no light on the questions as to whether the 

 Igloo group may have been derived from that of the Seward Penin- 

 sula or vice versa, and on the true relation of either or both of these to 

 the Eskimo of Baffin Land, Greenland, and Labrador. 



To definitely decide the problem of the Igloo group there are needed 

 data on the long bones of the northeasterners; in the second place it 

 is highly desirable to know how large and how 7 ancient was the group 

 of the narrow-headed people on the Seward Peninsula and Sledge 

 Island ; and in the third place it is important that the cultural history 

 of the two groups be known as thoroughly as possible. All of which 

 are tasks for the future. 



The possibility of a development of the Igloo cranial type on the 

 northwest coast itself can not be denied, in view of the facts that 

 all its characteristics are within the ranges of normal individual 

 variations on that coast, and that similar developments have evi- 

 dently been realized elsewhere. But in such a case it would be 

 logical to expect, locally or not far away, some ancestry of the group. 

 and the group would not probably be limited to a little spot and a 

 few scores of jjersons. Had the group developed incidentally from 

 a physically exceptional family, it could not be expected to have 

 been anywhere nearly as uniform as the group under consideration. 

 The high degree of uniformity of the Igloo contingent speaks for 

 a well accomplished differentiation; and as there is no other trace of 

 this in the conditions near Barrow, and there are no ruins denoting 

 a long occupation, the evidence is against a local development and 

 for an immigration of the group. A coining of a small-sized con- 

 tingent from the Seward Peninsula would be easy; its coming from 

 Greenland or Labrador or Baffin Land would surely be difficult, but 

 not impossible to the Eskimo, who is known to have been a traveler. 



Whatever may be the eventual solution of the Igloo problem, it is 

 plain that the presence of that group near Barrow, together with the 

 presence of evidently closely related groups in a part of the Seward 

 Peninsula and again in the far east of the Eskimo region, offers much 

 food for thought and investigation. The most plausible possibility 



