Part 2

12. Conventionalized design from fossil ivory specimen shown in Plate 19 174

13. World map 177

14. Dall's map of the distribution of the tribes of Alaska and adjoining territory, 1875 178

15. Nelson's map, Eighteenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1898 179

16. Linguistic map, United States census, 1920 180

17. Villages and sites on Kodiak Island 185

18. Villages and sites on the proximal half of Alaska Peninsula 187

19. Villages and sites on the distal half of Alaska Peninsula 188

20. Eskimo villages and sites on Nushagak Bay to Kuskokwim Bay 191

21. Eskimo villages and sites, Kuskokwim Bay to Scammon Bay 193

22. Eskimo villages and sites, Scammon Bay to Norton Sound and Bay to Cape Rodney 198

23. Eskimo villages and sites, Wales. (By Clark M. Garber, 1927) 201

24. Eskimo villages and sites, Seward Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound, and Arctic coast, to Kevalina 203

25. Eskimo villages and sites, Kevalina to Point Barrow 207

26. Russian map of St. Lawrence Island, 1849. (Tebenkof) 209

27. Eskimo villages and sites, St. Lawrence Island, the Diomedes, and the eastern Asiatic coast 211

28. The Bering Strait Islands 212

29. Probable movements of people from northeastern Asia to Alaska and in Alaska. (A. Hrdlička) 360

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA

By ALEŠ HRDLIČKA

INTRODUCTION

Alaska and the opposite parts of Asia hold, in all probability, the key to the problem of the peopling of America. It is here, and here alone, where a land of another continent approaches so near to America that a passage of man with primitive means of navigation and provisioning was possible. All the affinities of the American native point toward the more eastern parts of Asia. In Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet, Manchuria, Formosa, and in some of the islands off southeastern Asia, living remnants of the same type of man as the American aborigines are to this day encountered, and it is here in the farthest northwest where actual passings of parties of natives between the Asiatic coast and the Bering Sea islands and between the latter and the American coasts have always, since these parts were known, been observed and are still of common occurrence.

With these facts before them, the students of the peopling of this continent were always drawn strongly to Alaska and the opposite parts of Asia; but the distances, the difficulties of communication, and the high costs of exploration in these far-off regions have proven a serious hindrance to actual investigation. As a result, but little direct, systematic, archeological or anthropological (somatological) research has ever been carried out in these regions; though since Bering's, Cook's, and Vancouver's opening voyages to these parts a large amount of general, cultural, and linguistic observations on the natives has accumulated.

For these observations, which are much in need of a compilation and critical analysis, science is indebted to the above-named captains; to the subsequent Russian explorers, and especially to the Russian clerics who were sent to Alaska as missionaries or priests to the natives; to various captains, traders, agents, miners, soldiers, and men in collateral branches of science, who came in contact with the aborigines; to special United States Government exploratory expeditions, with an occasional participation of the Biological Survey and the Smithsonian Institution, such as resulted in the fine "Corwin" reports and the highly valuable accounts of Leffingwell, Dall, Nelson, and Murdoch; to the separate pieces of scientific work by men such as Gordon and Jennes; and to Jochelson and Bogoras of the Jesup exploring expedition of the American Museum.

As a result of all these contributions, it may be said that there has been established a fair cultural and linguistic knowledge of the Aleut, the Eskimo, and the Chukchee, not to speak of the Tlingit, consideration of which seems more naturally to fall with that of the Indians of the northwest coast.

There are also numerous though often very imperfect and occasionally rather contradictory notes on the physical status of these peoples, and some valuable cultural and even skeletal collections were made. Since 1912 we possess also a good series of measurements on the St. Lawrence Island natives, together with valuable cranial material from that locality, made, under the direction of the writer, by Riley D. Moore, at that time aide in the Division of Physical Anthropology in the United States National Museum.

The need of a further systematic archeological and somatological research in this important part of the world was long since felt, and several propositions were made in this line to the National Research Council (Hrdlička) and to the Smithsonian Institution (Hough, Hrdlička); but nothing came of these until the early part of 1926, when, a little money becoming available, the writer was intrusted by the Bureau of American Ethnology with the making of an extensive preliminary survey of Alaska. The objects of the trip were, in brief, to ascertain as much as possible about the surviving Indians and Eskimos; to trace all indications of old settlements and migrations; and to collect such skeletal and archeological material as might be of importance.

The trip occupied approximately four months, from the latter part of May to the latter part of September, affording a full season in Alaska. It began with the inside trip from Vancouver to Juneau, where at several of the stopping places groups of the northwest coast Indians were observed. At Juneau examination was made of the valuable archeological collections in the local museum. After this followed a trip with several stops along the gulf, a railroad trip with some stops to Fairbanks, a return trip to Nenana, a boat trip on the Tanana to the Yukon, and then, with little boats of various sorts, a trip with many stops for about 900 miles down the Yukon. This in turn was followed by a side trip in Norton Sound, after which transportation was secured to the island of St. Michael and to Nome. From Nome, after some work in the vicinity, the revenue cutter _Bear_ took the writer to the St. Lawrence and Diomede Islands, to Cape Wales, and thence from place to place of scientific interest up to Barrow. On the return a number of the more important places, besides some new ones, were touched upon, while the visit to others was prevented by the increasing storms, and the trip ended at Unalaska.

Throughout the journey, the writer received help from the Governor, officials, missionaries, traders, and people of Alaska; from the captain, officers, and crew of the _Bear_; and from many individuals; for all of which cordial thanks are hereby once more rendered. Grateful acknowledgments are especially due to the following gentlemen: Governor George A. Parks, of Alaska; Mr. Harry G. Watson, his secretary; Mr. Karl Thiele, Secretary for Alaska; Judge James Wickersham, formerly Delegate from Alaska; Father A. P. Kashevaroff, curator of the Territorial Museum and Library of Juneau; Dr. William Chase, of Cordova; Mr. Noel W. Smith, general manager Government railroad of Alaska; Mr. B. B. Mozee, Indian supervisor, and Dr. J. A. Romig, of Anchorage; Prof. C. E. Bunnell, president Alaska Agriculture College, at Fairbanks; Mr. and Mrs. Fullerton, missionaries, at Tanana; Rev. J. W. Chapman and Mr. Harry Lawrence, at Anvik; Father Jetté and Jim Walker, at Holy Cross; Mr. C. Betsch, at the Russian Mission; Messrs. Frank Tucker and E. C. Gurtler, near the mission; Mr. Frank P. Williams, of St. Michael; Judge G. J. Lomen and his sons and daughter, at Nome; Rev. Dr. Baldwin, Fathers La Fortune and Post, Captain Ross, United States Coast Guard, and Mr. Elmer Rydeem, merchant, at Nome; C. S. Cochran, captain of the _Bear_, and his officers, particularly Mr. H. Berg, the boatswain; Rev. F. W. Goodman and Mr. LaVoy, at Point Hope; the American teachers at Wales, Shishmareff, Kotzebue, Point Hope, and elsewhere; Messrs. Tom Berryman, Jim Allen; and Charles Brower, traders, respectively, at Kotzebue, Wainright, and Barrow; Mr. Sylvester Chance, superintendent of education, Kotzebue, Alaska; the United States marshals, deputy marshals, and postmasters along the route; and the numerous traders, miners, settlers, and others who were helpful with specimens, advice, guidance, and in other matters.

GENERAL REMARKS

The account of the survey will be limited in the main to anthropological and archeological observations; but it is thought best to give it largely in the form of the original notes made on the spot or within a few hours after an event. These notes often contain collateral observations or thoughts which could be excluded, but the presence of which adds freshness, reliability, and some local atmosphere to what otherwise would be a rather dry narrative. A preliminary account of the trip and its results was published in the Smithsonian exploration volume for 1926 (Washington, 1927, pp. 137-158).

Not much reference is possible to previous work of the nature here dealt with in the parts visited, except in the Aleutian Islands, where good archeological work was done in the late sixties by William H. Dall,[1] and in 1909-10 by Waldemar Jochelson.[2]

The archeology and anthropology of the Gulf of Alaska, the inland, the Yukon Basin, the Bering Sea coasts and islands, and those of the Arctic coasts up to Point Barrow are but little known. The archeology is in reality known only from the stone and old ivory implements that have been incidentally collected and have reached various institutions where they have been studied; from the excavations about Barrow, conducted by an expedition of the University Museum, Philadelphia, in charge of W. B. Van Valin, and by the trader, Mr. Charles Brower, the results of which have not yet been published; and from the recent diggings at Wales and on the smaller Diomede Island by Doctor Jenness.[3] Neither Dall, Nelson, Rau, nor Murdoch conducted any excavations outside the already mentioned work in the Aleutians.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Dall, Wm. H.: Alaska as it Was and Is; 1865-1895. Bull. Phil. Soc. Wash., 1900, vol. XIII, 141. On Prehistoric Remains in the Aleutian Islands. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., November, 1872, vol. IV, 283-287. Explorations on the Western Coast of North America. Smiths. Rept. for 1873, Wash., 1874, 417-418. On Further Examinations of the Amaknak Cave. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 1873, vol. V, 196-200. Notes on Some Aleut Mummies. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., October, 1874, vol. V. 399-400. Deserted Hearths. The Overland Monthly, 1874, vol. XIII, 25-30. Alaskan Mummies. Am. Naturalist, 1875, vol. IX, 433-440. Tribes of the Extreme Northwest. Contrib. N. Am. Ethnol., vol. I, Wash., 1877. On the Remains of Later Prehistoric Man Obtained from Caves in the Catharina Archipelago, Alaska Territory, etc. Smiths. Contr. to Knowledge, No. 318, Wash., 1878.

[2] Jochelson, W., Archæological Investigations in the Aleutian Islands. Carnegie Inst. of Wash. Publ. No. 367, Wash., D. C., 1925.

[3] Rau, Chas., North American Stone Implements. Smiths. Rept. for 1872, Wash., 1873. Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and North America. Smiths. Contr. to Knowledge, Wash., 1884, vol. XXV. Thomas, Cyrus, Introduction to the Study of North American Archæology. Cincinnati, 1898. Jennes, D. Archæological Investigations in Bering Strait. Ann. Rep. Nat. Mus. Canada for 1926 (Ottawa 1928), pp. 71-80.

NORTHWEST COAST--JUNEAU

THE COAST INDIANS

Passage was taken on a small steamer from Vancouver. The boat stopped at a number of settlements on the scenic "inside" route--which impresses one as a much enlarged and varied trip through the Catskills--permitting some observations on the Indians of these parts.

The main opportunity was had at Aleut Bay. Here many British Columbia Indians were seen on the dock, belonging to several tribes. Names of these, as pronounced to me, were unfamiliar. They have a large agency here; engage in salmon industry. A minority, only, full bloods--of the younger a large majority mixed (white blood). The full bloods all show one marked type, of short to moderate stature, rather short legs, huge chest and head, i. e., face. Color near onion-brown, without luster. Indians, but modified locally. Remind one (chest, stature, stockiness, shortness of neck and legs) of Peruvian Indians.

Indians at Prince Rupert same type; color pale brown; eyes and nose rather small for the faces in some, in others good size. Look good deal like some Chinese or rather some hand-laboring Chinese and Japanese look like them.

Indians at Juneau (the Auk tribe) very similar, but most mixed with whites.

_Juneau._--A week was spent at Juneau, gathering information, obtaining letters of introduction, and making a few excursions. The city has an excellent museum devoted to Alaskan history and archeology, under the able curatorship of Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff, himself a part of the history of the Territory. The archeological collections of Alaska Indians and Eskimos are in some respects--e. g., pottery--more comprehensive than those of any other of our museums; but they, together with the valuable library, are housed in a frail frame building, under great risks from both fire and thieves. Fortunately the latter are still scarce in Alaska, but the fire risk is great and ever present. The museum is a decided cultural asset to Juneau.

NOTES OF ARCHEOLOGICAL INTEREST

_Auk Point._--Thanks to Father Kashevaroff and Mr. Charles H. Flory, the district forester, an excursion was arranged one day to Auk Point, approximately 15 miles distant, a picturesque wooded little promontory near which there used to be a settlement of the Auk Indians. On the point were several burials of shamans and a chief of the tribe (all other dead being cremated), and near the graves stood until a short time ago a moderate-sized totem pole. Of all this we found but bare remnants. The burials of three shamans and one chief had been in huge boxes above ground; but they had all been broken into and most of the contents belonging to the dead were taken away, including the skulls. The skeletal parts of two of the bodies and a few bones of the chief remained, however, with a few objects the vandals had overlooked. The latter were placed in the Juneau Museum while the bones, showing some features of interest, were collected and sent to Washington. A large painted board near the graves of the shamans remained, though damaged. The totem pole, however, had been cut down the year before by a young man from Juneau, who then severed the head, which he carried home, and left the rest on the beach, from where it was soon washed away. Thus a group of burials, the only ones known of the once good-sized Auk tribe, have been despoiled and their record lost to science. And such a fate is, according to all accounts, rapidly overtaking similar remains everywhere in southeastern Alaska.

_Rare stone lamp (?)._--At the museum one of the first and most interesting objects shown the writer by Father Kashevaroff was a large, heavy, finely sculptured oblong bowl, made of hard, dark crystalline stone, decorated in relief on the rim and with a squatting stone figure, cut from the same piece, near one of the ends. The bowl looks like a ceremonial lamp, though showing no trace of oil or carbon. Subsequently four other bowls of this same remarkable type and workmanship were learned of, two, the best of the lot, in the University Museum at Philadelphia; one in the Museum of the American Indian, New York; and one, somewhat inferior and of reddish stone, in the possession of Mr. Müller, the trader at Kaltag, on the Yukon (later in that of Mr. Lynn Smith, marshal at Fairbanks). The localities where the five remarkable and high-grade specimens have been found range from the Kenai Peninsula in southwestern Alaska to the lower Yukon. The Juneau specimen comes from Fish Creek, near Kuik, Cook Inlet (see Descriptive Booklet Alaska Hist. Mus., Juneau, 1922, pp. 26, 27); that in the Heye Museum is from the same locality; the one in Philadelphia was found in the Kenai Peninsula; while that at Kaltag came from an old Indian site on the Kaiuh slough of the Yukon. Locally, there is much inclination to regard these specimens as Asiatic, especially Japanese, and a bronze Japanese Temple medal has been found near that now at Juneau. On the other hand, a strong suggestion of similarity to these dishes is presented by some undecorated large stone lamps from Alaska, and by a class of pottery bowls with a human figure perched on the rim at one end from some of the Arkansas mounds, Mexico, and farther southward. (See Mason, J. A. A remarkable stone lamp from Alaska. The Museum Jour., Phila., 1928, 170-194.)

_Copper mask._--Shortly before leaving Juneau I became acquainted with Mr. Robert Simpson, manager of the "Nugget" curio shop, and found in his possession a number of interesting specimens made in the past by the Tlingit Indians. An outstanding piece was an old copper mask, which was purchased for the National Museum. Mr. Simpson obtained it years ago from a native of Yakutat and stored it with native furs and other articles of value. It originally belonged to a shaman of the Yakutat tribe and was said to have been worn by him in sacrificial slave killings, the shaman with the mask representing some mythical being. It is an exceedingly good and rare piece of native workmanship.

_Copper "shield."_--Another interesting article secured from Mr. Simpson is a large old shieldlike plate of beaten copper, decorated on one side with a characteristic Tlingit engraved design. Mr. Simpson, in a letter to Doctor Hough, dated June 26, 1926, says: "The shield, or to speak more correctly the copper plate--for it was not used as a shield--was the most valuable possession of the Tlingits. They were usually valued in slaves, this one, at the last known exchange, having been traded for three slaves. The possessor of four or five such plates was a man of the utmost wealth. Some claim that they got these copper plates from the early New England traders and others that they came from the Copper River. Either is possible. Lots of the Copper River nuggets were very large and flat and could have readily been hammered into plate form. I bought this in the village of Klawak on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. I do not know of another one around here. All of the local elderly natives are familiar with its previous value, and when they have wandered into my shop to sell things they always made deep obeisance to this plate."

_Talks._--While in Juneau the writer spoke before the Rotarians, who honored him with a lunch; and later, in the auditorium of the fine new high school, gave a public lecture on "The Peopling of America," etc. The object of these and the many subsequent talks in Alaska was, on the one hand, to reciprocate as far as possible the kindness and help received on all sides, and on the other to leave wholesome information and stimulus in things anthropological. The audience was invariably all that a lecturer could desire, and many were left everywhere eager for help and cooperation. The aid of some of these men, including prospectors, miners, settlers, engineers, foresters, and various officials, may some day prove of much value in the search for Alaskan antiquities.

_Juneau--Seward._--June 8, leave Juneau. It has been raining every day, with one exception, and is misting now, depriving us of a view of most of the coast. Wherever there is a glimpse of it, however, it is seen to be mountainous, wooded below, snowy and icy higher up, inhospitable, forbidding.

June 10, arrive at Cordova, a former native and Russian settlement of some importance. Will stay here large part of the day and go to see about Indians, old sites, burials, and specimens, the main hotel keeper, the assistant superintendent of the local railway, the postmaster, the supervisor of the forests, and Dr. William Chase, who has been connected with the work of the Biological Survey in these regions. Mr. W. J. McDonald, the forester, takes me out some miles into the very rugged country, where there are still plenty of bear and mountain goat. After which Doctor Chase takes me to the old Russian and Indian cemetery. There are many graves, mostly Indian, but also a few whites, and even a Chinaman. Russian crosses are still common. The older Indian part could be easily excavated. Learn of skulls and bones on "mummy" island in Prince William Sound.

_Indians._--See quite a few. Nearly all appear more or less mixed; color in these more or less pronounced tan with red in cheeks and some tendency to paleness. Heads still all brachycephalic and of only moderate height; faces broad, noses not prominent, in males tend to large.

Two adult men, evidently full-bloods--pure Indian type of the brachycephalic form, head moderate in size, medium short, face not very large, nose slightly or moderately convex, not prominent, but all Indian. Color of skin submedium to near medium brown, no trace of whitish or pink. Stature and build medium; feet rather small; hair typical Indian, black, straight; beard sparse and short; mustache sparse, no hair on sides of the face.

The boat makes two or three more commercial and passenger stops before reaching Seward, the main one at Valdez, the terminal of the Richardson Trail to the interior. These stops permit us to see some fish canneries, which are of both general and anthropological interest. These establishments employ Japanese, Philippine, and Chinese labor, and it was found to be quite a task to distinguish these, and to tell them from the coast Indians. The Chinamen can be distinguished most often, though not always, the Japanese less so, while the Filipino usually can not be told from the Indian, even by an expert. Here was a striking practical lesson in relationships.

_Seward--Anchorage._--Seward found to be a fine little town, full of the same good brand of people that one finds everywhere in Alaska and who go so far to restore one's faith in humanity. It is the terminus of the Government railroad to Fairbanks and a port of some importance.

_Indian basketry._--No Indians were seen here, though some come occasionally. But several of the stores, including that of the Seward Drug Co. (Mr. Elwyn Swestmann), have an unexpectedly good supply of decorated Alaska Indian baskets. It was found later, in fact, that the Alaskan Indians, with the Aleutians, compare well in basketry with those of Arizona and California.