Anthropological Survey In Alaska - free ebook by Aleš Hrdlička

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA

By ALEŠ HRDLIČKA [Pg 20] [Pg 21]...

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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 res

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Northwest Coast—Juneau

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 indus

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TANANA—YUKON

June 17. Nenana: This is a small town on the Tanana, mostly railroad buildings, with a hospital; there is one street of stores (three short blocks), most of them now empty. About half a mile off a small Indian settlement about an Episcopalian mission. Country flat on both sides of the rather large river, except for some hills back of the right shore beyond the railroad bridge, for a short distance. The river flats seem scarcely 3 or 4 feet above water, overgrown with brush and a few scrubby tree

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Ruby

June 22-23. Our approach to Ruby was very modest. With Mr. Peake paid off, we just sided against and tied to the bank, on which are the lowest houses of the village, and carried out my boxes and bedding on the bank. There two or three men were idly watching our arrival. I asked about the local marshal, to whom I had a note, and had my things carried to the combined post office and hotel. In almost no time I meet Mr. Thomas H. Long, the marshal, become acquainted with the people about, tell my mi

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Galena

A little town (village), on a flat promontory. An old consumptive storekeeper—no knowledge of any old implements or skeletal remains. Lowden village moved here due to mine opposite and better site. About 10 Indian houses here; inhabitants now mostly in fishing camps. From Galena down, low shores and islands as on the Tanana, as far as can be seen, with mountains, grayish blue, in far distance (and only occasional glimpses). River never less than three-fourths of a mile and sometimes together wit

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Nulato (Pl. 1, b)

Arrive midday. Quite a village, as usual along the water front on a high bank. Large fancy modern surface burial ground with brightly painted boxes and flying flags on a hill to the right. Met by local marshal and doctor; my things are taken to a little hospital. Natives here have poor reputation, but now said to be better. Boys nearly all mix bloods. Several men and women show Eskimo type, but majority are Indian to somewhat Eskimoid. Soon find they are not very well disposed—want pay for every

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Kaltag

1.00 p. m. Kaltag in view—a small modern village on right bank, less than half the size of Nulato; a nearly compact row of log and plank houses. Nothing of any special interest seen from distance, and but little after landing. The old village used to be somewhat higher up the river. There is an old abandoned site also just opposite the present Kaltag. Another site, "Klenkakaiuh," is, I am told, in the Kaiuh slough south of Kaltag, in a straight line about 10 miles, but no one there; and several

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The Anvik People

The Anvik people, it will be recalled, were the first Yukon natives seen by a white man. They were discovered in 1834 by Glazunof, and since then have occupied the same site, located favorably on a point between the Anvik and the Yukon Rivers. They belonged to the Inkalik tribe, a name given to them, according to Zagoskin, by the coast people and signifying "lousy," from the fact that they never cut their hair, which in consequence, presumably, harbored some parasites. Their village was the lowe

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Bonasila

Close to 10 a. m. arrive at the Bonasila site. Not much—just a low bank of the big river, not over 4 feet high in front, and a higher rank grass-covered flat with a little stream on the left and a hill on the right. But the flat is full of fossae of old barabras (pit and tunnel dwellings), all wood on surface gone; and there is a cemetery to the right and behind, on a slope. Examine beach and banks minutely until 12. Modest lunch—two sandwiches, a bit of cake and tea—and then begin to examine th

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Holy Cross

Thursday, July 1. Slept on the floor of a little store last night at Ghost Creek. The Catholic mission at Holy Cross, with all sorts of room, about 1½ miles down, and where, though late and tired, I visited Father Jules Jetté, a renowned student of the dialects of the Yukon Indians, did not offer to accommodate me, and the trader in their village could only offer me a "bunk" in one little room with three other people. So after 10 p. m. we went down to the "Ghost Creek," where I was gladly given

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Ghost Creek

July 1-2, 10.30 p. m. A night on the Yukon. (Pl. 3, a ,) They have lit a powder against the mosquitoes. Smear the many gnat bites with Mentholatum—helps but for a while—and having now my fine meshed netting, my own bedding, and a clean pillow, I feel fine, safe from all the pests, and ready for a quiet night, all alone. Commenced dozing off when a he-cat, who hid in the store at closing, begins to make all kinds of unnamable noises. Stand it for a while, but he does not stop and one could never

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Paimute

Paimute down river, I am told, has nothing but Eskimo; Holy Cross, but a few natives now, mainly Indian; above Holy Cross, Indian, Eskimo only as adapted or in admixture. July 3, 8.30 p. m. Hills on right now right before us. Behind first a fish camp of the Holy Cross Mission natives. River narrows and bends. Two other fish camps become visible. Stop; damp, cold, smoke, fish smell, a few natives, Eskimo. River now like molten glass, but air damp and cold, and I must sit behind the engine and kee

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Russian Mission

Pack my stones and bones collected between here and Holy Cross, and after lunch go to Russian Mission. Meet Mr. Cris Betsch, the trader, and find him both friendly and anxious to help. Teacher and her mother invite me to supper. Before that Mr. Betsch calls in a number of the older men, and we have a talk about ancient things, but they know nothing worth while beyond a few score of years at most; they give me, however, some data and names of old villages. A few years ago some human bones and sku

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Marshall

At 3 p. m. reach Marshall, a little cheerful-looking mining town, high on a bank. See the place, identify the skeleton from the above-mentioned bank as that of a missing white man, see telegraph operator, postmaster, teacher, commissioner. Sun comes out, is warm. Almost no mosquitoes here and no gnats. Hills above and beyond town belong already to the coast range and are barren of trees, even largely bare of shrubs and bushes. Leave 4.30. Soon after Marshall—after passing by an Eskimo village (w

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St. Michael

Thursday, July 15. In the morning, after a good trip, reach St. Michael—quite a town from a distance, with many boats on the shore in front of it; but soon find that it is largely a dead city and ships' graveyard, not harbor. With the gold rush over, and the Government railroad from Seward to the Tanana, men and business have departed. Before the summer is over most of the large buildings and the fine large boats are to be demolished, and there will be left but a lonely village. Unload my collec

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About Nome

Due to the delay with the Bear , the next few days until July 23 were spent at and about Nome. They proved more profitable than was expected. Numbers of interesting specimens were found in the possession of some of the dealers, and more of those of scientific value were secured either through gift or by purchase for the National Museum. These collections consisted of objects of stone—i. e., spear points, knives, axes, etc.—but above all of utensils, spear points, effigies, etc., some of them of

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Nome—Bering Strait—Barrow

Friday, July 23. Received word to be on the Bear , which arrived yesterday, before 10 o'clock this morning. Due to the shallow ness of the water the boat, though drawing only 18 feet, stands far out from the shore and makes a pretty sight, looks also quite large in these waters where there is nothing above a few hundred tons. Am soon at home. The captain's cabin, with three beds, is nicely furnished, but has the disadvantage of being situated at the very rear of the vessel, above and beyond the

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Savonga

About 40 miles east-southeast of Gambell is the second and smaller village of the St. Lawrence Island, known as Savonga, which was the object of our next visit. It was here that we were to buy two or three reindeer carcasses, the animals being killed and dressed for us by the natives in an astonishingly short time. The little village is prettily situated on the green flat of the elevated beach. It consists of less than a dozen modern small frame dwellings. One of these, that of the headman, Sapi

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The Diomedes

Late that night we leave slowly for the Diomede Islands, the nearer of which is only about 18 miles distant. The two islands lie, as is well known, just about in the middle of the Bering Strait. One is known as the larger or Russian, the other as the smaller or American Diomede. The boundary line between Russia and the United States passes between the two. Both islands have been occupied since far back by the Eskimo. To-day there is one small village on the American and two small settlements on

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The Tanana

The Tanana is the largest tributary of the Yukon. It is over 600 miles in length, and in its breadth, though not in its volume, it appears to equal, if not to exceed, the Yukon at their junction. The first white men to see the mouth of the Tanana were the Russian traders (about 1860), followed before long by the employees of the Hudson Bay Co. Dall says that it has long been noted on the old maps of Russian America, under the name of the River of the Mountain Men, while the Hudson Bay men called

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Indian Sites and Villages Along the Tanana

Upper course. —On this much larger part of the river it is possible to report but indirectly. A. H. Brooks, in 1898, reports thus on this subject: [13] "Several Indian houses are found on and near the Tanana between the Good-paster and Salchakat and constitute a subgroup of the upper Tanana Indians. * * * The most thickly settled part of the region is along the sluggish portions of the lower Tanana. The largest villages are at the mouth of the Cantwell and Toclat Rivers, and each of these consis

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The Yukon Below Tanana

The Yukon is the principal river of Alaska. It is one of the greatest and most scenic rivers in the world. It is approximately 2,300 miles long (from the headwaters of the Lewes River), in its middle and lower courses ranges at times with its sloughs to several miles in breadth, and includes many hundreds of islands of its own formation. Its scenery is still essentially primeval, affected but little by human occupation or industry. It has, in fact, gone considerably back in these respects since

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The Yukon Natives

Upon their arrival on the Kvikpak and Yukon, the Russians found the banks of the stream peopled in its upper and middle courses by Indians and lower down by the Eskimo. [19] The last Indian village downstream was Aninulykhtykh-pak, since completely gone. Its site is identifiable with one that used to exist in front of the present mission of Holy Cross or just above. The first Eskimo village of some note was Paimute. As to the Indians of the Yukon and its tributaries, there is a considerable conf

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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

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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 c

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Pre-Russian Sites

Figure 7. —The Yukon from Bystraia to below Holy Cross 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 fai

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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 populatio

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The Living Indian

Notes on the living Indians of the Yukon have already been given in the Narrative. They will be briefly summarized in this place. Measurements of the living were impracticable during the journey. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 13 Tanana Indian Woman BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 14 Chief San Joseph, near Tanana Village, on the Yukon (A. H., 1926.) BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 15 a . Jacob and Andrew, Yuk

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Skeletal Remains of the Yukon

The first Yukon Indian skull measured was that of a half-chief of the Nulato group, collected in the early sixties by William H. Dall. There are now three records of this skull, originally and again now a Smithsonian specimen, one in Wyman ("Observations on Crania," Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1868, XI, 452, No. 7530), one in the Otis "Catalogue" (35, No. 259), and one in Hrdlička's "Catalogue of Human Crania in the United States National Museum Collections" (p. 30, No. 242925). It is a normal,

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Skeletal Parts

There are seven adult skeletons of males and seven of females. For present purposes it will suffice to take the males alone and to restrict consideration to the long bones. The essential data on these are given on page 160 , where they are contrasted with those of North American Indians in general, and with those of the western Eskimo. The bones show both relations to as well as differences from the bones of Indians in general and fair distinctness from those of the Eskimo. Contrasted with the l

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Skeletal Remains from the Bank at Bonasila

The skeletal material from the bank at Bonasila consists now of portions of three adult skulls, one male and two females, and of 13 bones of the male skeleton. All the specimens are more or less stained by manganese and iron and all are distinctly heavier than normal, showing some grade of fossilization. They closely resemble in all these respects the numerous animal bones from the bank and in all differ from the later surface burials of the place. The male skull, No. 332513, is represented by t

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The Yukon Eskimo

As with the Indians farther up the river, the necessities of the writer's journey did not permit more than visual observations, but in 1927 Henry B. Collins, jr., succeeded in measuring six adult males at Marshall. In general, the people of the Yukon delta and from this to Paimute are true Eskimo. By this is meant that in the majority of individuals they can readily be told as a type apart from the Indian and belonging plainly to that of the extensive family of the Eskimo. But when the differenc

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Old Sites in the Region of the Western Eskimo

The shores of the Alaska rivers, the littoral parts of Alaska, the more northern Bering Sea islands, and those portions of the Asiatic coast that were once or are still occupied by the Eskimo, are strewn with "dead" villages and old sites. Many of these dead villages or sites are historic, having been abandoned, or very nearly so, since the coming of the whites; some are older, in instances doubtless considerably older. Collectively they offer a large, almost wholly virginal and highly important

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Present Location of Archeological Sites

Through personal visits, wherever possible, and through information from all available sources, an effort was made to locate and learn the character of as many of the old sites as could be traced. In this endeavor I was aided by many whose services are hereby gratefully acknowledged. Especial thanks are due to Captain Cochran with the officers and men of the Bear , particularly Boatswain H. Berg; to the Lomen brothers and their esteemed father, at Nome; to Father B. La Fortune and the Reverend B

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Sites and Villages

The location of the western Eskimo villages has received more or less attention by most of the explorers in their region from the Russian time onward; but such efforts are generally limited to the living villages in the area visited by the observers. Perhaps the earliest Russian map of value in this connection on the Bering Sea region is that which I find in Billings and Gall's Voyage or "Putěshestvie" of 1791, printed in St. Petersburg 1811. The map bears no date, but is evidently quite early.

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Burial Grounds

Due to the impossibility of digging sufficiently deep into the frozen ground the western Eskimo buried their dead near or on the surface or among rocks. Occasionally they utilized also, it seems, old dwellings for this purpose, and in more recent times at least the surface burials, wherever there was driftwood, would be protected by heavy rough-hewn planks put together in the form of boxes or by driftwood. They bear close fundamental resemblance to those of the Yukon. On the Nunivak Island occur

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Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island, Alaska Peninsula

Very largely still a terra incognita for anthropology and archeology. Partly occupied by Indians (Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island?), partly by mix-blood Aleut (parts of Peninsula, and of Kodiak), partly by Eskimo. There is but little skeletal or archeological material from the whole extensive territory. 1. Litnik (probably the Russian "Lietnik," the name for a summer village).—Indian village on Afognak Bay, Afognak Island. This name is found on a map made by the Fish Commission in 1889. Appa

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Bristol Bay to Cape Romanzof

From the northern part of Bristol Bay to Cape Romanzof a partial survey of the coast was made in 1927 by Collins and Stewart (U. S. National Museum Expedition). In these regions and on the Nunivak Island it was possible to locate a series of villages some of which are still "living," others in ruins. In the late seventies of the last century, as stated before, the coast between Kuskokwim Bay and St. Michael Island was visited and its villages recorded by Nelson. A detailed archeological survey o

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Cape Romanzof to Northern (Apoon) Pass of the Yukon and Northward

On this coast there is little information since the time of Nelson. There are a number of occupied villages as well as of old sites. The region is bleak and the Eskimo there are reported to live miserably. The principal Eskimo villages and sites along the lowermost branch of the Yukon have been given previously. (Fig. 11.) From the northernmost pass of the Yukon to St. Michael Island the coast is poor in Eskimo remains. A site of interest here is the old camping ground, with a few permanent hous

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South Shore of Seward Peninsula West of Bluff

A number of dead villages are found along this coast. The first and largest is located a few miles west of Port Safety, 18 miles east of Nome. This was a large village extending for a considerable distance along the elevated beach separating an inland lagoon from the sea. The depressions of the dwellings, of the usual dipper-with-handle type, are very plain. Old settlers at Nome remember when the village was still occupied. Nearer the sea the beach is said to have been lined with burials, but th

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Scammon Bay, Norton Sound, South Coast of Seward Peninsula, to Cape Rodney [Fig. 22]

91. Melatolik. —A small coast village. 92. Bimiut. —A small coast village. 93. Kwikak. —Eskimo village on the outer coast in the Yukon Delta, a little south of the mouth of Black River. Native name, from the Coast Survey, 1898, which gives it as Kwikagamiut. (G. D. A.) Figure 22. —Eskimo Villages and sites, Scammon Bay to Norton Sound and Bay to Cape Rodney 94. Kipniak. —Eskimo village and Coast Survey tidal station at mouth of Black River in the Yukon Delta. Nelson, 1879, reports its name to be

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The Northern Shore of the Seward Peninsula

This shore is but little known to science. It is dangerous of approach to any except small boats. The only place that could be visited by me was Shishmaref, a good-sized thriving Eskimo village, on both sides of which along the sea are remains of old sites with burials. The more important old settlement was that to the east of the village. Here are found large and extensive heaps, the tops of which have recently been leveled for fox cages, the whole site belonging, regrettably, to a newly establ

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Kotzebue Sound, Its Rivers and Its Coast Northward to Kevalina

Figure 24 shows the village sites that it was possible to locate in these regions. Nearly all these are now "dead villages," though some Eskimo may still occasionally camp in their vicinity. A large present settlement of the Eskimo, well advanced toward civilization, is found at Kotzebue, and fish camps extend from here along the shore in the direction of Cape Blossom. Another important recent living village and school center is Noorvik on the lower Kobuk River. Inquiries as to old sites in this

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Seward Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound, and Northward

158. Kotzebue. —Old name: Kikikhtagiuk. (Zagoskin, general map.) A small white with a large Eskimo settlement. Old burials in ground (assimilated). A. H. collections. 159. Noorvik. —White and native village; school center. 160. Oksik. —Old camp, still occupied. (S. Chance.) 161. Kiana. —Old village, still occupied. (S. Chance.) 162. Shesoalik. —Old camp, still occupied in summer. (S. Chance.) 162a. Kubok. —Old village shown on general map of Zagoskin. 163. Aniyak. —Old camp, still occupied. (S.

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Kevalina—Point Barrow

This is the most important ruin as well as living Eskimo village in Arctic Alaska. It is unanimously declared by the Eskimo of the coast to be one of the oldest settlements and has always been the largest native center on the coast. The point was called Golovnin Point by the early Russians; it was called Point Hope by Beechey in 1826 in honor of Sir William Johnston Hope. At the time of its visit by the revenue cutter Corwin , 1884, there are said to have been two villages; [65] the second being

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The St. Lawrence and Diomede Islands

Ranking in archeological and anthropological importance with Wales and in some respects perhaps even exceeding the latter, is the large island of St. Lawrence, with the almost forgotten little Punuk group at its eastern extremity. Figure 26. —Russian map of St. Lawrence Island, 1849. (Tebenkof) The main island was discovered by Bering on St. Lawrence Day, August 10, 1728, and it was found peopled by the Eskimo. In 1849 an excellent map of it was published by Tebenkof in Novo-Archangelsk, and on

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Earlier Data

The previously published data on the western Eskimo are few in number and mostly not as well documented as would be desirable. There are, however, a good number of references to the physical characteristics of the people by explorers. The main of these are given below. These references in general are not of much scientific value, yet in some instances they approach this closely and are of considerable interest collectively. 1784, Cook: [67] The inlet which we had now quitted, was distinguished b

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Older Anthropometric Data on the Western Eskimo

The earliest actual measurements of the living among the western Eskimo are those given in Captain Beechey's Narrative (1832, p. 226), where we read that of the Eskimo of Cape Thompson (north of Kotzebue Sound) "the tallest man was 5 feet 9 inches (175.3 centimeters), the tallest woman 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 centimeters) in height." As seen before, Beechey also stated that the stature of the Eskimo increases from the east to the west. In 1881-82, Lieutenant Ray collects and in 1885 reports evide

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Present Data on the Western Eskimo

Barring the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands in the south and the Chukchee territory in the west, the Bering Sea is wholly the sea of the Eskimo, the Indians occupying the inland but reaching nowhere to the coast. There is doubtless much of significance in this remarkable distribution. It is now quite certain that the Eskimo has not been pressed out by the Indian; there are as a rule no traces of him farther inland than where he has been within historic times. On the other hand no Indian remnants o

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Physiological Observations

Due to various difficulties which do not exist to that extent elsewhere, the physiological observations on the Eskimo are neither as numerous or extended as would be desirable; yet there are some data of value. They extend to the pulse, respiration, temperature, and dynamometric tests of hand pressure. They were made mainly on St. Lawrence and Nunivak Islands, by Moore, Collins, and Stewart. They quite agree, especially after elimination of some records that are clearly erroneous or abnormal. Th

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Summary of Observations on the Living Western Eskimo[136]

These Eskimo are generally of submedium stature, occasionally reaching medium. The distal parts of their extremities are relatively short. Walk in adult males somewhat awkward. In head form they are highly mesocephalic to moderately brachycephalic; the height of the head averages about medium. The head is of good size, especially when taken in relation to stature. The forehead is above medium in both height and breadth. The face is large in all dimensions, generally full and rather flat. In men

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Remarks

The most noteworthy and important result of these studies on the living western Eskimo is the evidence, coming to light again and again, of their fundamental somatic relations to the Indian. These relations are too numerous and weighty to be accidental. Nor can they be ascribed to mixture with the Indian in such far-away groups as the St. Lawrence Islanders, who so long as known have never had any direct or even indirect contact with Indians. These relations in dimensions and relative proportion

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Present Data on the Skull and other Skeletal Remains of the Western Eskimo

Until recently collections of skeletal remains of the western Eskimo were confined largely to skulls. The material in our own institutions comprised a small collection of Mahlemut (St. Michael Island) and "Chukchee" (Asiatic Eskimo) crania made in the early sixties by W. H. Dall; a larger series of crania gathered in 1881 on St. Michael and St. Lawrence Islands by E. W. Nelson; 28 skulls with 3 skeletons brought in 1898 by E. A. McIlheny from Point Barrow; a valuable lot of skulls from Indian Po

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Crania of Eskimo Children

The main interest centers in the comparison of the relative proportions of these skulls with those of the adults from the same localities. These comparisons, given in the smaller table, are of considerable interest. The cranial index is considerably higher in the children. On analysis this is found to be due almost wholly to a greater relative breadth of the child's skull. During later growth the Eskimo cranium advances materially more in length than in breadth. A further expansion in breadth is

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Strength of the Jaw

The Eskimo jaw is generally stout. Barring rare exceptions there is nothing slender about it. The body, moreover, is frequently strengthened by more or less marked overgrowths of bone lingually below the alveoli and above the mylohyoid ridge. These neoformations will be discussed later. The strength of the mandible may be measured directly in various locations on the body. Due to the peculiar build of the body, however, and especially to its variations, these measurements are by no means simple

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Breadth of the Rami

Still another character that reflects the strength of the lower jaw is the breadth of the rami. The most practicable measurement of this is the breadth minimum at the constriction of the ascending branches. A great breadth of the rami is very striking, as is well known, in the Heidelberg jaw, and the Eskimo have long been known for a marked tendency in the same direction. The measurements of the lower jaws of the western Eskimo show as follows: The Eskimo jaws, and particularly that of the femal

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Other Dimensions

Four other measurements were taken on the jaws, namely the length of the body (on each side); the height of the two rami; the bigonial diameter; and the body-ramus angle. The results of the first three may conveniently be grouped into one table. The Eskimo lower jaw, which, as seen before, is characterized by a high and stout body and the broadest rami, shows further that these rami are remarkably low, and that the bigonial spread is extraordinarily broad. The length of the body, on the other ha

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The Angle

The angle between the body and the ramus of the lower jaw is known to differ with the age and sex as well as individually. Not seldom it differs also, and that sometimes quite appreciably, on the two sides. Racial differences are as yet uncertain. The angle, especially in some specimens, is not easy to measure, and the position of the jaw may make a difference of several degrees. Numerous trials have shown that the proper way is to measure the angle on the two sides separately, and to so place t

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Résumé

The Eskimo lower jaw differs substantially in many respects from that in other races, particularly from that of the whites. It is characterized by a high and stout body; by broad but low rami; and by excessive breadth at the angles. The body-ramus angle is moderate. To which may be added that the chin is generally of but moderate prominence, and that the bone at the angles in males is occasionally markedly everted....

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Mandibular Hyperostoses

These hypertrophies or hyperostoses are rarely met with also in the jaws of the Indian and other people. They are symmetric and characteristic, though often more or less irregular. They generally extend from the vicinity of the lateral incisors or the canines backward, forming when more developed a marked bulge on each side opposite the bicuspids, which gives the inner contour of the jaw when looked at from above a peculiar elephantine appearance. They may occur in the form of smooth, oblong, so

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Main References

Danielli, [180] 1884: "Saw the condition in lower jaws of 1 Swede, 1 Italian, 1 Terra di Lavoro jaw, 1 Slovene, 1 Hungarian, 1 Kirghis, 1 ancient Peruvian." Found hyperostoses in 9 out of 14 Ostiak lower jaws. Material: Young 2, adult 6, old 6. Hyperostoses in young 1, adult 3, old 5. Mantegazza, at his request, examined some Ostiak and Eskimo skulls in Berlin and found the hyperostoses in 2 Ostiak lower jaws (slight) and in 1 Eskimo skull from Greenland (marked). Found also smaller hyperostoses

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Western Eskimo: the Long Bones

The first fact shown by the preceding figures is the slightly greater length of all the long bones in the midwestern and northwestern groups as compared with those of the Bering Sea (midwestern and southwestern). This means naturally that the people of the Seward Peninsula and northward average somewhat taller in stature. The second evident fact is that the people of the Seward Peninsula and the more northern groups (so far as represented in these collections) show a slightly greater stature of

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Long Bones in Eskimo and Stature

One of the most desirable of possibilities in the anthropometry of any people, but particularly in groups now extinct, is a correct estimation of their stature. For this purpose the most useful aid has been found in the long bones, and various essays have been made by Manouvrier, Rollet, Topinard, Pearson, and others [198] at preparing tables or arriving at methods that would enable the student to promptly and satisfactorily obtain the stature as it was in life from the length of the long bones.

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Long Bones vs. Stature in Eskimo of Smith Sound[199]

[199] Hrdlička, A., Contribution to the anthropology of central and Smith Sound Eskimo. Anthrop. Pap. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., V , pt. 2, 280. New York, 1910. In 1917-1919, in the course of the John Wanamaker Expedition for the University Museum, Philadelphia, W. B. Van Valin, with the help of Charles Brower, the well-known local trader and collector, excavated near Barrow a group of six tumuli, which proved in the opinion of Van Valin to be so many old igloos, containing plentiful cultural as well

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Anthropological Observations and Measurements on the Collections

Age. —The first observations made on the igloo material were those as to the individual ages of the bodies. Such observations are necessarily rough, yet within sufficiently broad limits fairly reliable. The criteria are principally the condition of the teeth and that of the sutures. The possible error in such estimates is, experience has shown, as a rule well within 10 years in the older and within 5 years in the young adults or subadults. One of the objects of these observations on the "igloo"

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Physical Characteristics

The skull. —The most noteworthy feature about the Igloo remains is the marked distinctiveness of the skull. This strikes the observer at the first sight of the specimens, and the impression is only strengthened by detail examination. The skulls are very narrow, long, and high. They differ plainly from anything except occasional individual specimens, either about Barrow or along the rest of the west coast of Alaska, with the possible exception of a few groups of Seward Peninsula. They recall stro

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Origin of the Name "Eskimo"

According to Charlevoix (Nouv. France, III, 178), the term "Eskimo" is a corruption of the Abenaki Indian Esquimantsic or the Ojibway Ashkimeg, both terms meaning "those who eat raw flesh." In the words of Captain Hooper, [202] "Neither the origin nor meaning of the name 'Esquimaux,' or Eskimo, as it is now spelled, is known. According to Doctor Rink, the name 'Esquimaux' was first given to the inhabitants of Southern Labrador as a term of derision by the inhabitants of Northern Labrador, and me

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Opinions By Former and Living Students

Origin in Asia. —Many opinions on the origin of the Eskimo have been expressed by different authors. Among the earliest of these were those of missionaries, such as Crantz (1779), and of the early explorers, such as Steller, v. Wrangell, Lütke and others. They were based on the general aspect of the Eskimo, particularly that of his physiognomy; and seeing that in many features he resembled most the mongoloid peoples of Asia they attached him to these, which meant the conclusion that he was of As

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Theories as to the Origin of the Eskimo

Steller, 1743: [208] Several references which indicate that Steller regarded the Eskimo as related to the northeastern Asiatics. Cranz, 1779: [209] Points out the resemblances of the Eskimo (and their product) to the Kalmuks, Yakuts, Tungus, and Kamchadales, and derives them from northeastern Asia (forced by other peoples through Tartary to the farthest northeast of Asia and then to America). Blumenbach, 1781: [210] The first of the five varieties of mankind "and the largest, which is also the p

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SUMMARY

What is the substance of the results of all these new observations and studies on the western Eskimo, who is the main subject of this report? In large lines this may be outlined as follows: 1. The western Eskimo occupied, uninterrupted by other people (save in a few spots by the Aleuts), the great stretch of the Alaskan coast from Prince William Sound and parts of the Unalaska Peninsula to Point Barrow, all the islands in the Bering Sea except the Aleutians and Pribilovs, and the northern and we

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbes, H. Die Eskimos des Cumberland-Sundes. Globus, XLVI , 198-201, 213-218, Braunschweig, 1884. Asmussen, P. Die erste Entdeckung Amerikas. Globus, LVI , 337-341, Braunschweig, 1889. Baelz, E. Die Körperlichen Eigenschaften der Japaner. Mitt, deutsch. Gesellsch. f. Natur- und Völkerk. Ostasiens, Band III , Heft 28, 330-359, Yokohama, 1883. Bauer, M. Beiträge zur anthropologischen Untersuchung des harten Gaumens. Inaug.-Diss. Zürich, 1904. (Aus dem Anthrop. Inst. der Univ. Zürich.) Bessels, E.

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