X. Arctic Coast Area.—As its name indicates, this culture area extends from Greenland on the east to farthest Alaska and even to northeastern Siberia on the west, and from the tortuous shores of the continent somewhat indefinitely into the interior to the range of the northern Algonkin and Athabascan tribes, into whose culture that of the Arctic Eskimo merges. Where not affected by the culture of these bordering Indians, that of the Arctic Coast area is essentially Eskimoan in both its prehistoric and its historic phases, and the uniformity of the environment and of the physical character of the inhabitants has resulted in marked uniformity in arts and customs. Archaeological research has been conducted at only a few sites on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, but these have revealed little in the way of domi ciliary and mortuary remains or of artifacts that are not prac tically identical with the types still in use where the natives remain free from the influences of civilization. Yet in some in stances the archaeological remains, palpably Eskimoan, are regarded by the natives of today as relics of mythological beings.
In the frigid Eskimo habitat shelter was ever a necessity. The dwellings were built in such manner as was most convenient, and of such materials as were available. Driftwood, whalebones, stone, earth, sod and snow were utilized as occasion demanded, and the sunken floors and extended passages of the more permanent houses helped to afford a degree of comfort during the long and rigorous winters. Traces of such houses, and of storehouses and cairns, have been noted by explorers for thousands of miles along the frozen shores. Fire for cooking and for bodily comfort within the houses was obtained by the use of a flat earthenware or stone (usually steatite) lamp, with oil or fat for fuel—the only device of its kind known to aboriginal America. Food was obtained solely by hunting and fishing, and the implements and other devices used in these activities are not only highly ingenious, but many of them, especially those of ivory and bone, are beautifully carved and engraved, although such ornamentation is believed to be of relatively modern origin. In the western part of the Eskimo range, jade, pectolite, and other hard varieties of stone were fashioned into mortars, pestles, dishes and other receptacles, ham mers, adzes, chisels, picks, knives, whetstones, sinkers and various other necessary appliances, and hard and brittle stones, such as slate and flint, suitable for fracturing, were wrought into knives, scrapers, drills and projectile points; yet, although the Arctic dwellers were skilled in the flaking and chipping processes, their spear and harpoon points, knives, and especially the woman's knife, or u/u, were of ten shaped and sharpened by grinding, a process probably suggested by its employment in working ivory and bone. The grooved axe, celt and gouge are absent, evidently because there was relatively little occasion for fashioning wood of considerable size. Stones of many varieties were used also for manufacturing articles of personal adornment,—labrets, ear-plugs, beads, pendants,—some of these being unsurpassed for beauty of material and finish. Figurines, toys, fetishes, charms, talismans and a multitude of other small objects were likewise carved with great skill and of all available materials. Rather heavy pottery
vessels have been found especially along the coast as far east as Franklin bay ; they are of good form, of medium or large size, and are ornamented with incised and impressed decoration. The age of these vessels is not known, but evidently the potter's art has long been obsolete except for the manufacture of lamps where stone was not available. The shell-heaps of the Alaska coast are numerous, but are chiefly remarkable as representing three suc cessive periods of occupancy—the littoral period, characterized by the absence of artifacts ; the fishing period, in which there are traits of very primitive forms of stone implements; and the hunt ing period with evidences of culture approaching that of the historic Alaskan tribes—estimated altogether to represent an approximate period of 3,00o years, or about equal in age to the larger shell-heaps of California.
As known to ethnology, the Eskimo (and there is no reason to suppose that the ancient remains found on the Arctic shores of America are not assignable to Eskimo culture), considering their harsh environment, the ever-present difficulties involved in the food quest, and the limited range of materials available for their purposes, achieved a high degree of culture, as attested by the ingenuity of the appliances necessary to their daily life as hunters and fishermen which often involved long journeys by canoe, the facility with which they could build comfortable houses with what little their country afforded, and the expression which they gave to their aesthetic sense in almost everything they manufactured.
XI. The Northern Interior Area.—Since known to history this vast region has been occupied by Athabascan and Algon kin tribes wbo subsisted almost entirely by the chase, moose and caribou being the larger quarry, while a host of mammals of lesser species were also pursued or trapped for food or to provide skins for clothing and shelter. With few exceptions their material culture was poor, hence the archaeologist may hardly expect to find more than such commonplace articles as projectile points, knives, scrapers, abrading stones, hammerstones, etc., used by a hunter people, or to add to the meagre information that on the southern border the cultures are marginal to those of the adjoining area. Archaeologically the area is practically a terra incognita, yet it may hold much of interest in the elucidation of the questions of migra tion of the ancestors of the Indians from northeastern Asia, and of the separation of Athabascan bands in this far northern land and their gradual movement into northern California and to the arid southwest. Attention has been called by Holmes to the probability that all traces of very early occupancy, if such there were, must have been wiped out by the ice sheets which, one after another, must have swept southward over the country, "the latest invasion in the central region continuing down to the period which witnessed the building of the Egyptian pyramids." Limited areas in the west and north-west were not thus invaded by the ice, but as yet these have not yielded anything of particular archaeological value. (F. W. H.)