Research Items

Abstract

AN EARLY ESKIMO CULTURE IN ALASKA.—In a communication issued by the Victoria Memorial Museum, Ottawa, Mr. Diamond Jenness, Chief of the Division of Anthropology, reports on the results of four months' field-work in Alaska, where he excavated ancient ruins and studied local dialects with the object of determining the origin and antiquity of an Eskimo civilisation which has left traces in Canada extending from the Mackenzie River Delta to Hudson Bay. At Wales, the point of Alaska nearest to Asia, ruins were discovered belonging to four distinct periods, all preceding the discovery of Alaska by Europeans. The remains of the second period resembled very closely those of the oldest known ruins of Arctic Canada. Excavations on the Diomede Islands confirmed those at Wales, and revealed a still earlier culture, of which there is no trace in Canada. The most characteristic feature of this culture was a style of curvilinear engraving unlike anything known of Eskimo art elsewhere, ancient or modern. Its source must be sought either among neighbouring Indian tribes or in north-east Asia. In regard to the former suggestion, it is to be noted that local Eskimo folklore and traditions show strong Indian influence, to be seen also in the masked dances, the use of body armour of bone or ivory, and certain sounds in the language. An antiquity of some 1000 to 1500 years is tentatively assigned to the earliest culture.