DOCSLIB.ORG

Alaska Native Artifacts; Eskimos and Aleuts of the Bering Sea Rhythm of the Sea Collection

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Alaska Native Artifacts; Eskimos and Aleuts of the Bering Sea Rhythm of the Sea Collection Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College Spring 2017 Alaska Native Artifacts; Eskimos and Aleuts of the Bering Sea Rhythm of the Sea Collection Marcia Sue Taylor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Taylor, Marcia Sue, "Alaska Native Artifacts; Eskimos and Aleuts of the Bering Sea Rhythm of the Sea Collection" (2017). Master's Theses. 909. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/909 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALASKA NATIVE ARTIFACTS; ESKIMOS AND ALEUTS OF THE BERING SEA RHYTHM OF THE SEA COLLECTION by Marcia Sue Taylor A thesis submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Anthropology Western Michigan University April 2017 Thesis Committee: Bilinda Straight, Ph.D., Chair Vincent Lyon-Callo, Ph.D. José António Brandão, Ph.D. ALASKA NATIVE ARTIFACTS; ESKIMOS AND ALEUTS OF THE BERING SEA RHYTHM OF THE SEA COLLECTION Marcia Sue Taylor, M.A. Western Michigan University, 2017 “Only his artifacts provide his earthly testimony” (Thiry 1977, p. 5). The purpose of the research is to catalogue Eskimo and Aleut artifacts that comprise an unprovenienced (anonymous) collection in the Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University, and provide a corresponding ethnography. This will be accomplished in two ways: (1) a museum curation project, and (2) an ethnographic study that will focus on cultural synthesis within the parameters of artistic styles of harpoon head artifacts and geography as these pertain to the artifacts and their distribution. Analysis of the collection’s harpoon heads will provide both artistic and inventive evidence of a prehistoric Eskaleut correlation of Northern Maritime tradition (Eskimo) and Aleut cultures. All artifacts will henceforth be identified as the Rhythm of the Sea Collection. Copyright by Marcia Sue Taylor 2017 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my Thesis Committee Chair, Professor Bilinda Straight for planting the seed for my thesis topic, and her faithful encouragement during the research and writing process. In addition, I would like to thank the rest of my committee: Professor Vincent Lyon- Callo and Professor José Brandão for agreeing to be part of this journey, and their support by offering advice on various research perspectives. My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Henry Wright and Dr. Joshua Reuther for their kindness in taking time to assist with my research. I want to thank my Anthropology Department colleagues: Anna Alioto and Stephanie Sicard for their lab work assistance. I would like to acknowledge the research grant I received from the Graduate College of Western Michigan University, which affirmed my course of study. Further, I want to thank my support system: Ken Baker, Trish Cavanaugh, Liana DiNunzio, Frank and Jan Gibes, Jane Lockwood, Teresa Stannard, and Cyndee Viel. Finally, I would like to thank my family: my understanding husband Ron, son Brian, and sister Kary Devereaux. The support I received from them during the last four years was overwhelming. I am grateful to Brian for introducing and leading the way to achieve a degree from Western Michigan University. Go Broncos! Thank you Mom and Dad for your spiritual love … Marcia Sue Taylor ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ vi INTRODUCTION: ENTRY POINT ................................................................................... 1 AFFECTIVE WEIGHT AND POLITICAL WEIGHT DIALECTIC .................................. 9 Museum Curation Project (Part) ............................................................................... 9 Cultural Materialism: Emic and Etic Perspectives ....................................... 9 Indigenous Agency: Art and Cold Cash Collective Exhibition Model ................... 12 Interactive Rhythm Inside and Outside the Display ................................................. 16 Political Weight: Unpacking the Rhythm of the Sea Collection .................. 19 Affective Weight: Curation .......................................................................... 26 Collections Archival Website: Language of Photography ........................... 28 CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL DIALECTIC ................................................................. 36 Ethnographic Study (Part) ......................................................................................... 36 Development of the Negative—Entry Point into the Dialectic: Artistic Styles ................................................................................................ 36 Aleutian Early Artistic Period: Quimby Early Period ................................. 46 Dorset and Thule Cultures ........................................................................................ 51 Aleutian Middle Artistic Period: Quimby Middle Period ............................ 55 Aleutian Late Artistic Period: Quimby Late Period .................................... 57 iii Table of Contents—Continued Connecting the Artistic Arrows: The Arctic Small Tool Tradition—Northern Maritime Tradition ..................................................... 61 Aleutian Islands’ Toggle Harpoon Heads ................................................................. 71 Eskimo Artistic Periods of the Rhythm of the Sea Collection Harpoon Head Artifacts ................................................................................ 76 Artistic Styles Periods: Artistic Styles Cultures ................ 82 Panuk and Aleutian Cultural Synthesis ..................................................................... 103 POLITICAL AND POETIC DIALECTIC ........................................................................... 119 Political Partner ......................................................................................................... 119 Complexity of Anthropological and Archaeological Politics ....................... 119 Theodore Paul Bank, II: University of Michigan Aleutian Expedition I (1948–1949)—Political Partner ................................................................................ 126 Poetic Partner ............................................................................................................ 133 Dialogue with Artifacts ................................................................................. 133 Theodore Paul Bank, II: Western Michigan University Aleutian Expedition II (1969)—Poetic Partner .......................................................................................... 134 Artistry in Rhythmic Motion ........................................................................ 146 Dialectic Partners ...................................................................................................... 151 CONCLUDING REMARKS ................................................................................................ 153 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................ 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 162 iv LIST OF TABLES 1. Aleutian Toggle Harpoon Heads (Provenience: Amaknak Island) ........................... 73 2. Aleutian Toggle Harpoon Heads (Provenience: Amaknak Island) ........................... 74 3. Rhythm of the Sea Collection Harpoon Head Artifacts ............................................ 78 4. Rhythm of the Sea Collection Harpoon Head Artifacts ............................................ 79 5. Old Bering Sea Archaeological Culture ................................................................... 88 6. Old Bering Sea Archaeological Culture ................................................................... 98 7. Old Bering Sea Archaeological Culture ................................................................... 104 8. Variables of Punuk and Aleutian Harpoon Heads .................................................... 106 9. Ethnographic Summary Reports Grouped by Region .............................................. 122 9a. Ethnographic Summary Reports Grouped by Region .............................................. 123 9b. Ethnographic Summary Reports Grouped by Region .............................................. 124 v LIST OF FIGURES 1. Thesis Parts and Ties ................................................................................................ 1 2. Thesis Parts and Summation ..................................................................................... 2 3. Dialectical Research System ..................................................................................... 3 4. Dialectic Triad .........................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Alaska Region Revised 2020
    Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History Repatriation Office Case Report Summaries Alaska Region Revised 2020 Alaska Alutiiq, Koniag, 1991 LARSEN BAY, KODIAK ISLAND Yu'pik In September 1991, the NMNH repatriated the human remains of approximately 1000 individuals from the Uyak (KOD-145) archaeological site to the Alaska Native village of Larsen Bay, and 144 funerary objects were repatriated in January 1992. The museum had received a request to repatriate these remains and artifacts in 1987, and a series of communications between the village and the Smithsonian resulted in the decision to repatriate the remains as culturally affiliated with the present day people of Larsen Bay. The burials had been excavated by a Smithsonian curator, Ales Hrdlicka, during a series of excavations in the 1930s, and dated from around 1000 B.C. to post-contact times. No report is available, but information on the site and the repatriation may be found in the following book: Reckoning With the Dead: the Larsen Bay Repatriation and the Smithsonian Institution. Edited by Tamara L. Bray and Thomas W. Killion. Published in 1994 by the Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Alaska Inupiat, Yu'pik, 1994 INVENTORY AND ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN REMAINS AND NANA Regional ASSOCIATED FUNERARY OBJECTS FROM NORTHEAST NORTON Corporation SOUND, BERING STRAITS NATIVE CORPORATION, ALASKA IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY This report provides a partial inventory and assessment of the cultural affiliation of the human remains and funerary objects in the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) from within the territorial boundaries of the Bering Strait Native Corporation.
    [Show full text]
  • Pribilof Islands Red King Crab
    2011 Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report for the Pribilof Islands Blue King Crab Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Regions R.J. Foy Alaska Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA Executive Summary *highlighted text will be filled in with new survey and catch data prior to the September 2011 meeting. 1. Stock: Pribilof Islands blue king crab, Paralithodes platypus 2. Catches: Retained catches have not occurred since 1998/1999. Bycatch and discards have been steady or decreased in recent years to current levels near 0.5 t (0.001 million lbs). 3. Stock biomass: Stock biomass in recent years was decreasing between the 1995 and 2008 survey, and after a slight increase in 2009, there was a decrease in most size classes in 2010. 4. Recruitment: Recruitment indices are not well understood for Pribilof blue king crab. Pre-recruit have remained relatively consistent in the past 10 years although may not be well assessed with the survey. 5. Management performance: MSST Biomass Retained Total Year TAC OFL ABC (MMBmating) Catch Catch 2,105 113A 0 0 0.5 1.81 2008/09 (4.64) (0.25) (0.001) (0.004) 2,105 513B 0 0 0.5 1.81 2009/10 (4.64) (1.13) (0.001) (0.004) 286 C 1.81 2010/11 (0.63) (0.004) 2011/12 xD All units are tons (million pounds) of crabs and the OFL is a total catch OFL for each year. The stock was below MSST in 2009/10 and is hence overfished. Overfishing did not occur during the 2009/10 fishing year.
    [Show full text]
  • Prehistoric Aleut Influence at Port Moller
    12 'i1 Pribilof lis. "' Resale for so 100 150 200 ·o oO Miles .,• t? 0 Not Fig. 1. Map of the Alaska Peninsula and Adjacent Areas. The dotted line across the Peninsula represents the Aleut boundary as determined by Petroff. Some of the important archaeological sites are marked as follows: 1) Port Moller, 2) Amaknak Island-Unalaska Bay, 3) Fortress or Split Rock, 4) Chaluka, 5) Chirikof Island, 6) Uyak, 7) Kaflia, 8) Pavik-Naknek Drainage, 9) Togiak, 10) Chagvan Bay, 11) Platinum, 12) Hooper Bay. PREHISTORIC ALEUT INFLUENCES AT PORT MOLLER, ALASKA 1 by Allen P. McCartney Univ. of Wisconsin Introduction Recent mention has been made of the Aleut influences at the large prehistoric site at Port Moller, the only locality known archaeologically on the southwestern half of the Alaska Penin­ sula. Workman ( 1966a: 145) offers the following summary of the Port Moller cultural affinities: Although available published material from the Aleutians is scarce and the easternmost Aleutians in particular have been sadly neglected, it is my opinion that the strongest affinitiesResale of the Port Moller material lie in this direction. The prevalence of extended burial and burial association with ocher at Port Moller corresponds most closely with the burial practices at the Chaluka site on Umnak Island. Several of the more diagnostic projectile points have Aleutian affinities as do the tanged knives and, possibly,for the side-notched projectile point. Strong points of correspondence, particularly in the burial practices and the stone technology, lead me to believe that a definite Aleut component is represented at the site. Data currently available will not allow any definitive statement as to whether or not there are other components represented at the site as well.
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeology Resources
    Archaeology Resources Page Intentionally Left Blank Archaeological Resources Background Archaeological Resources are defined as “any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object [including shipwrecks]…Such term includes artifacts, records, and remains which are related to such a district, site, building, structure, or object” (National Historic Preservation Act, Sec. 301 (5) as amended, 16 USC 470w(5)). Archaeological resources are either historic or prehistoric and generally include properties that are 50 years old or older and are any of the following: • Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history • Associated with the lives of persons significant in the past • Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction • Represent the work of a master • Possess high artistic values • Present a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction • Have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in history These resources represent the material culture of past generations of a region’s prehistoric and historic inhabitants, and are basic to our understanding of the knowledge, beliefs, art, customs, property systems, and other aspects of the nonmaterial culture. Further, they are subject to National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) review if they are historic properties, meaning those that are on, or eligible for placement on, the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). These sites are referred to as historic properties. Section 106 requires agencies to make a reasonable and good faith efforts to identify historic properties. Archaeological resources may be found in the Proposed Project Area both offshore and onshore.
    [Show full text]
  • Aleuts: an Outline of the Ethnic History
    i Aleuts: An Outline of the Ethnic History Roza G. Lyapunova Translated by Richard L. Bland ii As the nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has re- sponsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural and cultural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Shared Beringian Heritage Program at the National Park Service is an international program that rec- ognizes and celebrates the natural resources and cultural heritage shared by the United States and Russia on both sides of the Bering Strait. The program seeks local, national, and international participation in the preservation and understanding of natural resources and protected lands and works to sustain and protect the cultural traditions and subsistence lifestyle of the Native peoples of the Beringia region. Aleuts: An Outline of the Ethnic History Author: Roza G. Lyapunova English translation by Richard L. Bland 2017 ISBN-13: 978-0-9965837-1-8 This book’s publication and translations were funded by the National Park Service, Shared Beringian Heritage Program. The book is provided without charge by the National Park Service. To order additional copies, please contact the Shared Beringian Heritage Program ([email protected]). National Park Service Shared Beringian Heritage Program © The Russian text of Aleuts: An Outline of the Ethnic History by Roza G. Lyapunova (Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo “Nauka” leningradskoe otdelenie, 1987), was translated into English by Richard L.
    [Show full text]
  • J. W. Vanstone
    AN EARLY ACCOUNT OF THE~RUSSIAN DISCOVERIES ,IN THE NORTH PACIFIC TRANSLATED AND EDITED By JAMES W. VANSTONE INTRODUCTION Although the remnants of Bering's second expedition returned to Kamchatka during the summer of 1742, it was not until 1758 that the first connected narrative of this and other Russian discoveries in the northern Pacific was made available to readers in western Europe. In that year, George Frederich Muller, Professor of History in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and member of Bering's expedition iIi Siberia, published an account based on records in the government files at Irkutsk and J akutsk, together with documents collected after his return to Russia. This work, written in German and translated into English (Muller, 1761) and French, is the standard narrative of what Masterson and Brower (1948, pp. 3-4) have referred to as the first chapter in the history of Alaska which ended with the return of Bering's expedition.! In 1774, Jacob Stahlin von Storcksburg, also of the St. Petersburg Academy -of Sciences, published an account of the post-Bering discov­ eries that was translated into English the same year (Stahlin, 1774). This work contains vague and confused references to the expedition of Lieutenant "Syndo" and a very inaccurate description of Kodiak Island and certain islands in the Aleutian chain.Resale There is nothing in the tex t to suggest that any of the islands were discovered before 1765. This work is accompanied by a map which is equally confused and inaccurate. The numerous deficiencies forin Stahlin were at least partly respon­ sible for the publication, in 177.6, of Neue Nachrichten von denen neuen,tdekten Insuln in der See zwischen Asien und Amerika, aus, mitgetheiLten Urkunden urud A uszugen verfasset von J.L.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Where We Found a Whale"
    ______ __.,,,,---­ ....... l-:~-- ~ ·--~-- - "Where We Found a Whale" A -~lSTORY OF LAKE CLARK NATlONAL PARK AND PRESERVE Brian Fagan “Where We Found a Whale” A HISTORY OF LAKE CLARK NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE Brian Fagan s the nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has resposibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural and cultural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protect- ing our fish and wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for enjoyment of life Athrough outdoor recreation. The Cultural Resource Programs of the National Park Service have respon- sibilities that include stewardship of historic buildings, museum collections, archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, oral and written histories, and ethno- graphic resources. Our mission is to identify, evaluate, and preserve the cultural resources of the park areas and to bring an understanding of these resources to the public. Congress has mandated that we preserve these resources because they are important components of our national and personal identity. Published by the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Lake Clark National Park and Preserve ISBN 978-0-9796432-4-8 NPS Research/Resources Management Report NPR/AP/CRR/2008-69 For Jeanne Schaaf with Grateful Thanks “Then she said: “Now look where you come from—the sunrise side.” He turned and saw that they were at a land above the human land, which was below them to the east. And all kinds of people were coming up from the lower country, and they didn’t have any clothes on.
    [Show full text]
  • Steve Mccutcheon Collection, B1990.014
    REFERENCE CODE: AkAMH REPOSITORY NAME: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center Bob and Evangeline Atwood Alaska Resource Center 625 C Street Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-929-9235 Fax: 907-929-9233 Email: [email protected] Guide prepared by: Sara Piasecki, Archivist TITLE: Steve McCutcheon Collection COLLECTION NUMBER: B1990.014 OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION Dates: circa 1890-1990 Extent: approximately 180 linear feet Language and Scripts: The collection is in English. Name of creator(s): Steve McCutcheon, P.S. Hunt, Sydney Laurence, Lomen Brothers, Don C. Knudsen, Dolores Roguszka, Phyllis Mithassel, Alyeska Pipeline Services Co., Frank Flavin, Jim Cacia, Randy Smith, Don Horter Administrative/Biographical History: Stephen Douglas McCutcheon was born in the small town of Cordova, AK, in 1911, just three years after the first city lots were sold at auction. In 1915, the family relocated to Anchorage, which was then just a tent city thrown up to house workers on the Alaska Railroad. McCutcheon began taking photographs as a young boy, but it wasn’t until he found himself in the small town of Curry, AK, working as a night roundhouse foreman for the railroad that he set out to teach himself the art and science of photography. As a Deputy U.S. Marshall in Valdez in 1940-1941, McCutcheon honed his skills as an evidential photographer; as assistant commissioner in the state’s new Dept. of Labor, McCutcheon documented the cannery industry in Unalaska. From 1942 to 1944, he worked as district manager for the federal Office of Price Administration in Fairbanks, taking photographs of trading stations, communities and residents of northern Alaska; he sent an album of these photos to Washington, D.C., “to show them,” he said, “that things that applied in the South 48 didn’t necessarily apply to Alaska.” 1 1 Emanuel, Richard P.
    [Show full text]
  • Inside This Issue
    the Bullfrom johnny cake hill | etinspring 2020 Inside this issue: High School Apprenticeship Program’s 10th Anniversary | Upcoming Exhibition on Albert Pinkham Ryder Lighting the Way Celebrates the Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment HelmFROM THE A Tribute to Llewellyn Howland, III Members and Friends: By Lloyd Macdonald You will likely be reading this Bulletin while we are still in the midst of the coronavirus public health emergency and it is my greatest hope that this edition finds you safe and healthy. With that in mind, there Llewelyn Howland, III (“Louie” to all who knew him), a four-term Trustee of the Museum, former Chair of the may be dates published in these pages that may shift as a result of the situation. While I certainly hope that Scholarship and Publications Committee, long-serving member of the Collections Committee and member during this crisis comes to a speedy conclusion, I am more mindful now than ever of the value of togetherness. his tenure on the Executive and Governance Committees, died on June 21, 2019. He was 81. As a Museum, we are a place of gathering on many levels. We collect and steward the objects, literature, and stories of our region’s history. We protect and share some of the most vital data and research in the Louie’s and my service on the Board coin- to Louie himself. He also co-edited the world of marine mammal bioacoustics. We unearth hidden stories of some of the most impactful women cided almost exactly. Early in our tenure, Museum’s 2007 publication of On the to have walked our streets.
    [Show full text]
  • Arts and the Southeast Economy
    S OUTHEAST CONFERENCE The Arts Economy of Southeast . Alaska Photo by Clark Mischler Tree carving on Mount Roberts by master carver Richard Beasley September 2014 Our Arts Economy Southeast Alaska Arts Data KEY FINDINGS Artists and arts organizations are a key part ! The arts are an important component of the of the Southeast Alaska economy. They regional economy. Altogether artist, arts $57.8 Million: Dollars create products and perform services. They organization, and audience spending in spent by artists, arts generate spending and attract audiences, Southeast Alaska totaled an estimated $57.8 organizations and who in turn spend money at restaurants, million in 2013. audiences in 2013 hotels, and other local businesses. Artists impact education, and by positively Based on an analysis of our survey data, self- ! contributing to the quality of life, they attract employment tax returns, and wage and labor 2,340: Number of young people to the region, and help retain data, there are an estimated 2,340 Southeast artists with earnings Alaska artists who earned revenue from their those who are here. from arts in 2013 art in 2013. Altogether, these artists earned The purpose of this publication is to consider an estimated $29.9 million last year. In terms (full & part time) the role of arts in the Southeast Alaska of workforce earnings, the arts sector is ! economy. nearly twice the size of the regional timber $29.9 Million: industry. Revenue earned by METHODOLOGY Calculating the economic impact of art and Unlike employees in other industries, most regional artists in 2013 artists is notoriously difficult.
    [Show full text]
  • From Alaska to Greenland: a Comparison of the Arctic Small Tool
    microblades, burins and burin spalls, and projectile points and scrapers that resemble those From Alaska to Greenland: A recovered from settlements around Lake Baikal Comparison of the Arctic Small Tool and elsewhere in eastern Siberia (McGhee 1996; Nash 1969). Charcoal found in Feature 17 at the and Thule Traditions Kuzitrin Lake Denbigh site in Alaska has produced radiocarbon dates ranging from 5500 to 4000 B.P.(Harritt 1998:63-69). Harritt (1998) states that the earliest known Denbigh material could possibly signify the appearance of the In this paper, I will discuss the Denbigh culture from Siberia in western Alaska. distinguishing cultural characteristics of the Within this west to east migration Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) and Thule model, two major ASTt variants have been tradition, and hypothesize about the implications identified in the High Arctic: Independence I and that these characteristics have on the Pre-Dorset. Charcoal from Independence I sites understanding of the ASTt and Thule ways of have provided a radiocarbon date range from life. The ASTt and Thule migrations occurred about 4000 to 3700 B.P. These sites are located approximately 3000 years apart from each other. in Greenland, and on the High Arctic of Canada They represent in the archaeological record two at Devon, Cornwallis, and Ellesmere Islands. rapid, widespread migrations across the Arctic Independence I sites also likely occur in the Low from the western coasts of Alaska to those of Arctic, however they are hard to recognize due to eastern Greenland. The material culture left the small size of camps and the amount of tundra behind by these peoples clearly indicates two vegetation that may be covering them (McGhee very different lifestyles and adaptations to the 1978:30).
    [Show full text]
  • Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science
    Possible New World Affiliations of the Neolithic Baikal People Ben R. Huelsman, Indiana University Of the few well-documented archaeological skeletal series of Siberia, the Neolithic Baikal Type "A" population is of considerable interest because of its widespread ramifications in both Siberia and northwestern North America. This Neolithic population was first described by the Russian physical anthropologist, G. F. Debetz as a result of his examina- tion of a series of skulls from the late neolithic of the Transbaikal region. It is apparent, as Debetz himself recognized, that this neolithic Siberian population resembles somewhat the contemporary Aleut. If the Pre-Aleuts are compared with the Baikal populations, however, the resemblances are even more striking. The Neolithic Baikal population and the Pre-Aleuts share the follow- ing traits: the vault is absolutely long, narrow, and low, the forehead is very sloping, the brow-ridges are moderate in development, and the cranial index is dolichocranial. For both groups the face is typically long and moderately broad in its absolute dimensions; both populations are lepto- prosopic, the upper facial index being mesene; the nasal index is leptor- rhine and the orbital index is hypsiconch. The later Aleut population differs from the Baikal people in being broader and shorter vaulted, the cranial index falling into the brachy- cranial index class. With reference to facial dimensions and profile, how- ever, the present-day Aleut are skeletally still quite close to the Siberian group. The Eskimo also disclose a facial similarity close to the Neolithic Baikal population, but these resemblances are limited to the face. The Neolithic Baikal population is characterized by an extremely low mean cranial height which is apparently due to platybasia, while the Eskimo are one of the most high vaulted groups in North America.
    [Show full text]