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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. VII, October, 1953 
1741. This was because survival of an attack 
of a stronger warring party required access to 
an escape route by sea on more than one side. 
After the Russians had put an end to inter- 
island warfare, the villages were supposedly 
moved to sheltered bays which offered many 
advantages of improved fishing and better 
harbors. This view is somewhat substantiated 
by vegetational patterns, for old villages lo- 
cated on points of land (thus presumably pre- 
Russian) usually possess a comparatively less 
dense plant cover than do old villages located 
in bays. The latter sites (presumably more 
recently abandoned) often have a particularly 
lush plant cover. 
However, an outright assumption that the 
oldest sites are to be found on points of land 
or isthmuses along the coasts should not be 
made. It is known that the islands have been 
rising throughout the history of the Archi- 
pelago. Jaggar (1908: 32) mentions finding 
old beach terraces on Unalaska at 130 meters 
altitude. Veniaminof (Petrof, 1884: 148) and 
Hulten (1937^/ 24) also call attention to old 
shore lines, and more recently they have been 
reported by members of the U. S. Geological 
Survey field parties (U.S.G.S.,1947: 102). These 
places have not been explored archaeologi- 
cally, although Hrdlicka (1945) mentions 
several village sites in the eastern part of 
Agattu at a considerable distance above the 
sea, and I have also noted from the air an old 
village situated on a cliff high above the sea 
in the western part. It is entirely possible that 
future reconnaissance will uncover the oldest 
sites on such uplifted beaches, and it may be 
that here is where the true beginning of Aleut 
culture will have to be sought. 
SUMMARY 
Study of biotic patterns in the Aleutians 
shows them to be extremely unstable. There 
are frequent vegetational shifts which results 
in a totally new plant cover over compara- 
tively large areas. In postglacial times some 
of these shifts may have been caused by cli- 
matic changes, but it is believed that most of 
them have come about through unstable soil 
conditions, which in turn have been influ- 
enced by fluctuations in seasonal weather. 
Wind is a very important factor determining 
vegetational structure and composition ar 
higher altitudes. Any semblance of normat 
plant succession as it is known in similal 
latitudes on the mainlands of Asia and Amer- 
ica is frequently altered by the combined 
effects of volcanic ash eruptions, wind ero- 
sion, periodic moisture surpluses (after 
heavier-than-usual winter snowfalls), etc. In 
general, vegetation is much less stable and 
biological succession more erratic in the Aleu- 
tians then on the mainlands. This is in sharp 
contrast to Aleut culture, which apparently 
remained unchanged in most of its major 
aspects during 3,000 years of existence in the 
Aleutians. 
REFERENCES 
Anderson, Sven T., and T. P. Bank, II. 
1952. Pollen and radiocarbon studies of 
Aleutian soil profiles. Science 116 (3004): 
84-86. 
Bank, T. P., IT 1952. Aleutian vegetation and 
Aleut culture. Mich. Acad. Sci., Arts and 
Letters, Papers 37: 13-30. [1951.] 
Cain, Stanley A. 1944. Foundations of plant 
geography, xiv -f 556 pp., 63 figs. Harper 
& Bros., New York. 
Faegri, K., and J. Iverson. 1950; Textbook 
of modern pollen analysis. 168 pp. Munks- 
gaard, Copenhagen. 
Hrdlicka, Ales. 1945. The Aleutian and 
Commander islands and their inhabitants. 
XX + 630 pp., 239 figs. Wistar Institute 
of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia. 
Hulten, Eric. ¥)yia. Flora of the Aleutian 
Islands. 397 pp., 6 figs., 16 pis., 33 maps. 
Bokfoerlags Aktiebolaget Thule, Stock- 
holm. 
1937^. Outline of the history of arctic 
and boreal biota during the Quaternary Period. 
168 pp., 14 figs., 43 pis. Bokfoerlags Ak- 
tiebolaget Thule, Stockholm. 
Jaggar, T. A., Jr. 1908. Journal of the Tech- 
nology expedition to the Aleutian Islands, 
