Part 14

Anvik station and village 94 Single house 20 Single house 12 Single house 15 Tanakhothaiak 52 Single house 15 Chageluk settlements 150 Khatnotoutze 115 Kaiakak 124 Kaltag 45 Nulato, station and village 163 Koyukuk settlements 150 Terentiefs station 15 Big Mountain 100 Single house 10 Sakatalan 25 Yukokakat 6 Melozikakat 30 Mentokakat 20 Soonkakat 12 Medvednaia 15 Novo-kakat 106 Kozmas 11 Nuklukaiet 27 Rampart village 110 Fort Yukon 82

Later demographic records on the Yukon and its tributaries and on the coast comprise additional data by Petrof, published as a part of the Eleventh (1890) United States Census and arranged by districts and linguistic groups; and the data of three subsequent United States Censuses, 1900, 1910, and 1920, which are given in differing ways, but in the main by major ethnic and territorial or jurisdictional subdivisions.

Due to incomplete enumerations; to the use of native estimates for actual count (as seems to have been the case with Dall's figures, as well as others); the different methods and classifications employed; and the inclusion of units now into one and now into another group (as with Petrof, who includes three Indian villages below Anvik among the Eskimo, etc.), the various counts are not comparable and give but hazy ideas of the true conditions. Yet they are not without value, particularly in showing the earlier population of the villages and the relative proportion of the sexes and ages. The more helpful details are given in the appendix; for still others see references in bibliography.

FOOTNOTES:

[23] See also Petrof (Ivan), Tenth Census Rep., Wash., 1880, VIII, 37; but his transliteration of names is not always correct.

[24] This doubtless included many subadults.

[25] 31 per cent, or 1 in 3.2.

PRESENT CONDITIONS

To-day, judging from all the obtained evidence, which comprised information, the witnessing of a potlatch at Tanana at which were assembled practically all the Indians above Nulato, and a visit below the Tanana of nearly all the villages where the Indians still live, the total number of the Tinneh on the lower Tanana (from Fairbanks to the mouth of the river) and on the Yukon from Tanana to Anvik, can scarcely be estimated to reach 1,000. It is probably well below that number. Moreover, not one-half of the adults and much fewer among the young are still full bloods. Disease, bad liquor (Yukon), and mostly as yet imperfect accommodation to changing conditions are steadily diminishing the numbers. Since our visit many have died from influenza, especially at Anvik. Their future is not hopeful. On the Tanana, however, and with the more educated in general, conditions are better, and much good is being done by the four missions on the two rivers (Nenana, Tanana, Anvik, and Holy Cross).

The old Indian settlements along the Yukon are gone, with a few exceptions. On some of the sites, as at Tanana, Nulato, Kaltag, etc., there are new villages bearing the old names but built by or in imitation of whites and sheltering a mixed population. The very names of not a few of the older Indian sites have gone into oblivion; or the natives call those they still know by a corruption of a white man's name, such as "Ulstissen" (for Old Station). Anvik alone has kept its original site and some of its old character, the mission and the white trader being across the river.

In the Eskimo part of the Yukon, below Holy Cross, conditions on the whole appear to be somewhat better. There has also been a diminution in population. The majority of the old villages have ceased to exist, while under the influence of whites some new settlements or names have appeared. Yet there are respectable remnants of the Eskimo, and, being better workers than the Indian and seemingly more coherent, they manage to sustain themselves somewhat better than he does. Their greatest handicap is disease. The beneficial effect among them of the old Russian Mission has declined, but there are a number of Government schools which have a good influence. They are more tractable, sensible, and in some respects perhaps more able than the Indians.

But there exists to-day no clear-cut demarcation, geographical, cultural, or even physical, between the two people. Anvik, the last Indian village downstream, is in every respect at least as much Eskimo as Indian; more or less Eskimo-like physiognomies are seen again and again among the Indians; and Indianlike features are common among the Eskimo. There has either been an old and considerable admixture on both sides, or there are some fundamental similarities of the two groups; perhaps both.

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE YUKON

Up to 1926 no archeological work had been done along the Yukon or its tributaries, and barring a few isolated specimens there were no archeological collections from these regions.

The archeology of the river consists, (1) of the dead but formerly known villages; (2) of older sites, "dead" and unknown before even the Russians arrived; and (3) of random stone objects worked by man that now and then are washed out from the river banks or are found in working the ground. Except in details conditions are much alike along the whole river and will best be dealt with as a whole.

THE RANDOM SPECIMENS

Wherever the beach of the river shows more or less of stones that are not talus or just pebbles, there are generally found stones worked by man. Such localities are scarce. The first exists between Tanana (the village) and the mission above it. Here specimens are found occasionally on the beach and occasionally in the soil of the local gardens. Other such sites were located at Bonasila, below Anvik, and in four places between Paimute and the Russian Mission. A few are also present from Marshall seaward.

An examination of the terrain adjacent to such parts of the beach shows mostly, but not always, traces of an old settlement.

The specimens consist of characteristic axes or adzes, stone scrapers, hammers, stone knives (along the Eskimo part of the river), tomahawk heads (probably), objects less well defined, and chips. There may be semifossilized animal bones, and rarely a bit of charcoal, a piece of pottery (for details see Narrative), or an object of ivory.

The ax proper is peculiar. It is a cupid's-bow ax, double-edged, and with one or two grooves across its middle. (Pl. 10.) It is as a rule made of heavy basaltic stone, and its edges are sharpened by polishing. Rough parts may have been polished also on the body. Its distal surface is convex (from sharp edge to sharp edge), its proximal surface straight or mildly convex. I succeeded in getting a specimen remounted recently by one of the Indians near Tanana. This form of an ax is still remembered by the old Indians when in use. They cut trees with it, cutting sidewise and detaching the wood in splinters. They also remember clubs with stone heads, and told me they were carried on the back over the right shoulder so as to be ready for instant and effective use.

These axes have apparently been used by both the Indians and the Eskimo, but there is an interesting difference. The several specimens I obtained or saw from Tanana to Ruby were all complete. But from, about the vicinity of Ruby downstream the bi-edged ax seems to disappear, or, rather, one-half of it disappears, the butt henceforth either being left unfinished or one-half of the double ax being broken off and the remainder being mounted now as an adze on a shorter handle. This form, and it exclusively, with various secondary modifications, is found over a wide area among the Eskimo and may reach into Asia, for I obtained a specimen of it from one of the Diomede Islands. It connects directly with the Bering Sea Eskimo ivory adze and chisel. On the other hand the bi-edged ax appears, in various modifications, to extend widely over Indian Alaska.

The remaining stone implements need but little mention here. They will be studied and reported separately by our archeologist. A special note will, however, be necessary later about the very primitive stone industry of Bonasila, below Anvik. (See p. 144.)

Of pottery I have seen no example above Anvik, but this can not be taken as evidence of its absence above that point. At Anvik, Bonasila, and farther down the pottery is like that of the western Eskimo. It is coarse ware, hand shaped, and of rather poor quality. It consists of small round bowls to fairly large, more or less conical, jars. It is never painted but is frequently decorated with thumb marks and especially with grooves running parallel with the border.

Ivory implements were encountered first at Bonasila and consisted of a few fine long points barbed on one side, looking like those of the Eskimo and probably of Eskimo origin. There were also a few tools of bone, generally scrapers.

Russian beads, especially those of the large blue variety, are occasionally encountered, usually singly or in small numbers, especially in some spots.

A unique archeological specimen from the lower middle portion of the Yukon Valley is the large stone dish obtained by Mr. Müller, the trader at Kaltag. (See p. 34.)

Besides these random specimens, other cultural objects are found along the Yukon in connection with old burials. These consist of an occasional wooden dish, sharpening or polishing stones, rarely a figurine (doll?) in ivory, Russian snuffboxes, fire sticks, dishes of birch bark, etc. The cullings in this field are quite poor, but there has been no excavation of older burials that have been assimilated by the tundra and lie now in the earth beneath.

The archeology of the old habitation sites, on the other hand, particularly perhaps on the Shageluk and between Holy Cross and Marshall, is decidedly promising and invites careful excavation.

LOCATION OF VILLAGES AND SITES ON THE YUKON

Especial attention was given to the location of the numerous dead villages and older sites along the Yukon. This task was found, in most instances, fairly easy with villages that "died" since the Russo-American occupation, for mostly they still show plain traces and are generally remembered by the old Indians or even old white settlers. Their precise allocation on a map, however, is not always easy or certain. As to the prehistoric sites the search is much more difficult and depends largely on chance discoveries.

The villages still existing give only a partial clue, in many cases, to the old, even where these bore the same name, for on occasions a village changed its location, though remaining in the same general vicinity and retaining the same name. Thus there existed at different times apparently, between the earliest contacts with whites and the present, at least 2 Nuklukhayets, 2 Lowdens, 3 Nulatos, 3 Kaltags, 2 Anviks, etc.; besides which there were differences in recording the names and changes due to efforts at translation of the native term, or an application by the whites of a new name, often that of a trader or settler, to an old site.

In places even late village sites, in others burials, were witnessed being undermined by the river or the sea. Such sites with their contents will probably sooner or later be completely lost from this cause. Many doubtless have thus been lost previously.

The villages and sites located along the Yukon are here enumerated and as far as possible charted. Information about them was obtained from the older Indians or river Eskimo and from such whites as had direct knowledge in that line. Most of these sites were examined personally, but in some instances this was impossible. The details concerning those seen will be found in the Narrative, but a few generalizations may here be useful.

The dead village sites are much alike along the whole river. They are generally located at the mouth, of some inland stream that carries clear fresh water, particularly if on the other side there is the protection of a hill. The dwellings were invariably on a flat and were throughout semisubterranean and of the same general type; which applies also to the larger communal houses or "cashims." The sites can often be told from afar in summer by the rich grass that covers them.

The burials were as a rule not far from a village and preferably on the slopes of the nearest hill. They were mostly above ground, but under the influence of Russians there were also shallow-ground burials. The latter can readily be told by the sawed planks of the coffins and the iron nails by which they are fastened. In many places no surface burials remain or there are mere traces. In such, places little mounds may betray old burials assimilated by the tundra. Trenching in likely spots would doubtless reveal others of which no trace remains on the surface.

No excavations of any of these sites have ever been attempted, but many of the surface burials were disturbed or destroyed by seekers of relics and the curious vandal, who is present on the Yukon as in other parts of the country.

The maps shown here were made under my direction on the basis of maps and charts provided by the Geological and Geodetic Surveys, in Washington. Additional old sites will doubtless be located in the future and may be added to these records.

PRE-RUSSIAN SITES

As already told in the Narrative, a search for truly ancient sites along the Yukon has proven largely negative. A more intense and prolonged archeological survey, with exploratory trenches wherever there is promise, may one day prove more fruitful. But, as pointed out before, much can never be expected. Man could at no time have occupied the Yukon Valley and watershed in large numbers. He would not have found enough sustenance. Even with fair resources he would hardly have tarried in these inclement regions as long as the ways toward the south were open. He never built here of lasting materials and had little chance to develop or even keep up any higher culture, and since he is gone the ever-cutting river has taken away whatever it could reach and scattered it through its silts and gravels. There is nevertheless a number of small elevated plateaus along the right bank that ought to be sounded by exploratory pits or trenches, particularly perhaps where there are traces of later habitations.

There are, of course, some sites that are older than others. The most interesting of these was found at Bonasila, beneath the old site of Makki or Magimute, 18 miles downstream from Anvik. (See Narrative.) The main facts concerning this site are as follows:

At the above distance from Anvik, on the right bank of the river and following a wooded hill, is a low flat backed by rising ground and cut across by a little stream. The flat is narrow, at present about 300 feet; and the part above the stream is deeply pitted by the remains of semisubterranean houses of a "dead" native village, which I believe is identifiable with the Magimute of the Russians. On the slope behind the village were still about a score of old surface burials, with an article here and there of Russian derivation.

The bank of the flat rises at present only about 4 feet above the beach of the river, but the flat behind is higher. The bank itself contains many specimens showing human workmanship, consisting of objects of stone, birch bark, bone, and rarely also of ivory, besides many fragments of pottery, many bones of wild Alaskan animals, and here and there a human skeleton. Some of these objects are low down in the bank. All the bones from the bank, including the human, and even the rare points of ivory, are semifossilized; the stone industry is peculiar; and the human remains differ plainly from both those of the later Yukon Indian and from those of the Eskimo. They are apparently Indian (see section on physical characteristics), but a tall Indian of a type that now is only met with much farther south.

The stone industry from the bank appeared at first sight so primitive that even the term "paleolithic" would not fit and the only term that seemed to meet the situation was "protolithic." It consists predominantly of scrapers and knockers, with here and there a tool sharpened for cutting. The scrapers look especially crude. They consist simply of pieces of smaller or larger andesite-like volcanic slabs broken to the desired size and chipped more or less roughly along what was to be the scraping edge. A closer examination of the stones, which were obtained from a base of a cliff farther down the river, showed, however, that they were of material which is hard to work, and that the chipping, under the circumstances, was not really bad. (Pls. 11, 12.) Pottery must have been fairly plentiful and quite up to the average of the river, both in make and decoration.

Two fine long, partly fossilized ivory points picked up formerly on the site were obtained from Mr. Lawrence. They are handsomely barbed on one side and show a high grade of skill. They must have come from the Bering Sea and may belong to the old fine ivory culture of the western part of that region, of which more later.

There are also some fairly ancient sites farther down the river (see Narrative), but just what they are and how old remains to be determined.

A report on the archeological remains from the bank of Bonasila by Mr. H. W. Krieger, one of the curators of the Department of Anthropology, United States National Museum, follows:

ARCHEOLOGY OF CENTRAL ALASKA

ANCIENT STONE CULTURE

"Until the results of Doctor Hrdlička's Alaskan reconnaissance were first made known to science it had been generally assumed that Alaskan and Canadian subboreal regions were archeologically barren. It had been currently accepted that only as one approached the great river valleys of the Skeena, the Fraser, and the Columbia could anthropological exploration be conducted to advantage. One might expect to uncover cemeteries and ancient village sites only there where a dense and sedentary population had long been established. Through the discovery of ancient village sites and centers of population in the lower and middle Yukon River Valley, Doctor Hrdlička has extended the northern archeological horizon into the sub-Arctic.

"Of the many sites examined, the old village site at Bonasila, 18 miles below the confluence of the Anvik and Yukon Rivers, yielded the most interesting data. Crudely flaked implements of trap rock with cutting edges showing evidence of chipping and grinding were uncovered. These implements are unique among Alaskan artifacts and have no relationship with known types of Eskimo or Indian stonework. In the shaping technic employed by their aboriginal makers; in form, and in type; and, generally, in their undeveloped character, the stone artifacts from Bonasila and other ancient archeological sites on the middle Yukon may be classified as primitive neolithic.

"The stone implements uncovered at Bonasila are so crudely fashioned and are apparently of such an improvised nature as to suggest an extreme conservatism in culture development, or perhaps a degeneration, due largely to lack of better materials. Due to the lack of basalt, jadeite, or other hard stone in the valley of the lower middle Yukon, recourse was had to sandstone and trap rock by the primitive makers of stone axes and celts.

"Crude pottery vessels and potsherds were discovered associated with the objects of stone. This ware incorporates elementary decorative designs distinct from the known historic Eskimo or Indian types of pottery decoration. There can be no intimation that this ware is archaic or that it belongs to any archaic culture offshoot from farther south. It therefore becomes a question of some unknown earlier Asiatic culture connection that manifested itself in crude forms of flaked and ground stone implements and in unique pottery forms. It is uncertain that the ancient fossil ivory culture of northwest Alaska, of which Doctor Hrdlička has brought in some excellent examples, is in any manner associated with the primitive neolithic stone and pottery forms uncovered at Bonasila. It is established, however, beyond a doubt that both cultures and types of artifacts are Asiatic in origin and have little or no connection with the culture of the western Eskimo.

"The Eskimos of the lower Yukon Valley made extensive use of slate and of jadeite in the production of their polished knives and celts. Slate knives and polished celts of jadeite are characteristic of Eskimoan culture throughout the whole of its extent in Alaska. Each of these materials as well as the finished products shaped from them were subjects of native barter. Eskimos often undertook long journeys for their procurement. It is therefore noteworthy that no single object fashioned from slate or jadeite and but few points of fossilized ivory were recovered at any of the sites characterized by the primitive stone culture and pottery of the Bonasila type.

"The most characteristic finds at Bonasila are the crudely flaked implements of stone, some of which show incipient chipping and grinding. The coarse type of pottery is unlike that of the modern Eskimo in tempering, firing, and decorative design.