Chapter XVI: Part 16

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Virchow,[181] 1889, page 392: In upper jaws of three Santa Barbara skulls: "An den Alveolarrändern der weiblichen Schädel Nr. 3-6 von S. Barbara besteht eine höchst eigenthümliche und seltene, knollige Hyperostosis s. Osteosclerosis alveolaris, wie ich sie in gleicher Stärke früher nur bei Eskimos gesehen hatte. Ein leichter Ansatz dazu zeigt sich auch bei dem männlichen Schädel Nr. 4 von S. Cruz. Es dürfte dieser Zustand, der mit tiefer Abnutzung der Zähne zusammenfält, durch besonders reizende Nahrung bedingt sein."

Vancouver Island skulls: "dagegen sehen wir dieselbe alveolare Hyperostose, die wir bei den Leuten von S. Barbara und weiterhin bei Eskimos kennen gelernt haben."

Virchow,[182] 1892: "Der Alveolarrand gleichfalls mit hyperostotischen Wülsten besetzt, jedoch mehr an der inneren Seite, besonders stark in der Gegend per Prümolares und Canini, weniger stark in der Gegend der Incisici."

Welcker,[183] 1902: "Exostosen der Alveolarränder. Von erheblicher Beweiskraft können Eigenthümlichkeiten und Abnormitäten des Knochengewebes under der Knochenoberfläche werden, wenn dieselben, bei an sich grosser Seltenheit ihres Vorkommens, an einem Oberschädel und Unterkiefer zugleich vorkommen.

"So fand ich am Unterkiefer der Gypsabgüsse des sogenannten Schillerschädels sehr merkwürdige, bis dahin nirgends erwähnte, erbsenförmige Exostosen an den Alveolen der Eck- und Schneidezähne. Ganz ähnliche, wenn auch etwas flächere Exostosen zeigen die Alveolen eben derselben Zähne des Oberschädels, und es beweist dieses seltene Vorkommen bei dem Zutreffen aller übrigen Zeichen das Zusammengehören beider Stücke mit hoher Sicherheit.

"In einer etwas anderen Form, in der dieselben einen geschlossenen, exostotischen Saum bilden, fand ich Alveolarexostosen bei einem Lettenschädel (G. Gandras, 47 J., Halle Nr. 52). Hier sind die Alveolarränder der Schneide-und Eckzähne mit flachen, am Oberkiefer streifenförmigen (senkrecht gestellten), am Unterkiefer mehr rundlichen Exostosen besetzt, so dass der sonst papierdünne Zahnflächenrand beider Kiefer in einen, die Zahnhälse begrenzenden wulst-förmigen Saum umgewandelt ist. Der gleiche Charakter dieser nicht häufigen Abnormität an beiden Kiefern giebt die vollste Ueberzeungung der Zusammengehörigkeit.

"In schwächerem Grade zeigt diesen Zustand ein Chinesenschädel der Halle'schen Sammlung (Lie Assie)."

Fürst,[184] 1908: "Wir haben hier auf diese interessante anatomische Bildung aufmerksam machen wollen, die, wenn nicht konstant, doch in sehr hohem Prozentsatze und in bestimmter charakteristischer Form bei den Eskimos auftritt und in verschiedenen Variationen auf dem Unterkiefer anderer Rassen, speziell nordischer oder arktischer, vorkommt.--Wir wollen später eine ausführlichere Beschreibung über den Torus mandibularis mitteilen."

Gorjanovič-Kramberger,[185] 1909: "Durch die Ausbiegung der seitlichen Kieferflächen würde ferner die Druckrichtung der M und P eine gegen die innere Kieferwandung gerichtete. Als direkte Folge dieses Druckes hat man die starke Ausladung der entsprechenden lingualen Kieferseiten im Bereiche der P und M anzusehen, die da eine auffallende Einengung des inneren Unterkieferraumes bewerkstelligte."

Hrdlička (A.), 1910. See text.

Hansen,[186] 1914: "The lower jaws attached to the skulls are powerfully formed, high, and, above all, very thick, their inner surface being markedly protruding, rounded, and without any special prominence of linea mylohyoidea. This peculiarity, which is common enough, among the Eskimo and certain Siberian tribes, but is otherwise exceedingly rare, must be regarded as a hyperostosis of the same nature as the so-called torus palatinus. It is a partly pathological formation due to a peculiar mode of life rather than a true morphological mark of race."

Fürst, C. M., and Hansen, C. C., 1915. See text.

Cameron,[187] 1923: "In some instances the bony thickening was excessive. For example, in mandible XIV H-8 the inward bulging of the bone was so marked that the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the body opposite the first molars was reduced to 21.5 millimeters. This jaw had therefore an extraordinary appearance when viewed from below. (See fig. 5.) The writer would regard these bulgings as bone buttresses built up by nature to resist the excessive strain thrown upon the alveoli of the molar teeth. He exhibited the mandibles to Prof. H. E. Friesell, dean of the dental faculty, University of Pittsburgh, and this authority concurred in the opinion expressed above." A disagreement with this view is expressed by S. G. Ritchie, pages 64c-65c, same publication.

FOOTNOTES:

[180] Danielli, Jacopo, Iperostosi in mandibole umano specialmente di Ostiacchi, ed anche in mascellari superiore. Archivio per l'antropologia e l'etnologia, 1884, XIV, 333-346.

[181] Virchow, E., in Beiträge zur Craniologie der Insulaner von der Westküste Nordamerikas. Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. Verhandl., 1889, XXI, 395, 401.

[182] Virchow, R., Crania Ethnica Americana. Berlin, 1892, Tafel XXIII. A "long-head" male adult of Koskimo, Vancouver Island.

[183] Welcker, H., Die Zugehörigkeit eines Unterkiefers zu einem bestimmten Schädel, nebst Untersuchungen über sehr auffällige, durch Auftrocknung und Wiederanfeuchtung bedingte Gröben und Formveränderungen des Knochens. Arch. f. Anthropol., 1902, XXVII, 70.

[184] Fürst, Carl M., Demonstration des Torus mandibularis bei den Askimos und anderen Rassen. Verhandlungen der Anatomischen Gesellschaft in Berlin, 1908, Ergänzhft z. Anatom. Anz., 1908, XXXII, 295-296.

[185] Gorjanovič-Kramberger, K., Der Unterkiefer der Eskimos (Grönländer) als Träger primitiver Merkmale. Sitzungsberichte der königlich preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1909, LI.

[186] Hansen, Søren, Contributions to the anthropology of the East Greenlanders. Meddelelser om Grønland, Copenhagen, 1914, XXXIX, 169.

[187] Cameron, John, The Copper Eskimos. Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918. Ottawa, 1923, XII, c. 55.

SKELETAL PARTS OTHER THAN THE SKULL

The skeletal parts of the western Eskimo, outside of the skull, are but little known. The only records are those on two skeletons (one male, one female) from Point Barrow by Hawkes,[188] and those on a few bones from Port Clarence by Cameron.[189] The data on the skeletal parts of the northern and eastern Eskimo are only slightly richer, being for the most part fragmentary and scattered.[190] Nor has the time arrived yet for a comprehensive study of such material, for notwithstanding the relative abundance in crania and the more resistant individual skeletal parts, the securing of anywhere near complete skeletons is very difficult. Nevertheless there is now a good number of the long bones of the western Eskimo in the possession of the National Museum and the main data on these, all secured personally by the writer, will be given. They must for the present remain essentially as so many figures without adequate discussion and comparisons. Nevertheless a few facts appear so plainly that they may well be pointed out before concluding this section.

FOOTNOTES:

[188] Amer. Anthrop., 1916, LVIII, 240-243.

[189] Rep. Canad. Arct. Exp., 1913-1918, Pt. C, 1923, 56-57.

[190] Mainly by Turner (London, 1886); Duckworth (Cambridge, 1904); Hrdlička (New York, 1910); Cameron (Ottawa, 1913-1918); also a series of incidental references and comparisons.

WESTERN ESKIMO: THE LONG BONES

-------------+---------------------------------------------
| Males
-------------+------------+---------+--------+------------
Bones of |Southwestern| Seward| Point| Seward
both sides | and|Peninsula| Hope| Peninsula
taken | midwestern| [192]| | and
together |groups [191]| | |northwestern
| | | | Eskimo in
| | | | general
| | | | [193]
-------------+------------+---------+--------+------------
Humeri: | (143)| (261)| (67)| (100)
| | | |
Length | 30.69| 31.42| 31.07| 31.17
maximum | | | |
| | | |
At middle-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.40| 2.46| 2.46| 2.46
maximum | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 1.80| 1.81| 1.86| 1.85
minimum | | | |
| | | |
Index at | 75.1| 73.8| 75.8| 75.1
middle | | | |
| | | |
Radii: | (98)| (20)| (15)| (37)
| | | |
Length | 22.90| 23.63| 23.44| 23.50
maximum | | | |
| | | |
Radio- | | | |
humeral | _74.5_| _75.2_| _75.4_| _75.4_
index | | | |
(approximate)| | | |
| | | |
Femora: | (195)| (44)| (10)| (60)
| | | |
Length, | 42.50| 43.20| (44.06)| 43.46
bicond. | | | |
| | | |
Humero- | | | |
femoral | _72.2_| _72.7_| [195]| _71.7_
index | | |(_70.5_)|
(approximate)| | | |
| | | |
At middle-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | | | |
antero- | 3.08| 3.17| (3.33)| 3.21
posterior | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.70| 2.72| (2.68)| 2.72
lateral | | | |
| | | |
Index at | _87.6_| _85.8_|(_80.4_)| _84.8_
middle | | | |
| | | |
At upper | | | |
flattening-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 3.35| 3.34| (3.27)| 3.32
maximum | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.51| 2.57| (2.58)| 2.59
minimum | | | |
| | | |
Index at | | | |
upper | _75_| _77_| (_79_)| _78.1_
flattening | | | |
| | | |
Tibiae: | (141)| (35)| (41)| (79)
| | | |
Length (in | 33.86| 34.52| 36.40| 35.52
position) | | | |
| | | |
Tibio- | | | |
femoral index| | | |
| | | |
(approximate)| _79.7_| _79.9_| [194]| _81.7_
| | |(_82.6_)|
At middle-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | | | |
| | | |
antero- | 3.12| 3.13| 3.26| 3.19
posterior | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.12| 2.12| 2.20| 2.16
lateral | | | |
| | | |
Index at | _67.9_| _67.7_| _67.4_| _67.8_
middle | | | |
-------------+------------+---------+--------+------------

-------------+---------------------------------------------
| Females
-------------+------------+---------+--------+------------
Bones of |Southwestern| Seward| Point| Seward
both sides | and|Peninsula| Hope| Peninsula
taken | midwestern| | | and
together | groups| | |northwestern
| | | | Eskimo in
| | | | general
| | | |
-------------+------------+---------+--------+------------
Humeri: | (136)| (26)| (55)| (83)
| | | |
Length | 28.40| 28.75| 28.83| 28.83
maximum | | | |
| | | |
At middle-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.10| 2.14| 2.16| 2.15
maximum | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 1.54| 1.59| 1.63| 1.62
minimum | | | |
| | | |
Index at | 73.2| 74.4| 75.4| 75.1
middle | | | |
| | | |
Radii: | (109)| (16)| (8)| (24)
| | | |
Length | 20.50| 21.26| [194]| 21.25
maximum | | | (21.58)|
| | | |
Radio- | | | |
humeral | _72.2_| _74_|(_74.8_)| _74_
index | | | |
(approximate)| | | |
| | | |
Femora: | (132)| (26)| | (31)
| | | |
Length, | 39.36| 40.12| | 40.44
bicond. | | | |
| | | |
Humero- | | | |
femoral | _72.2_| _71.7_| | _71.3_
index | | | |
(approximate)| | | |
| | | |
At middle-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | | | |
antero- | 2.69| 2.85| | 2.88
posterior | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.46| 2.55| | 2.56
lateral | | | |
| | | |
Index at | _91.5_| _89.6_| | _88.9_
middle | | | |
| | | |
At upper | | | |
flattening-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 3.02| 3.04| | 3.06
maximum | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 2.26| 2.37| | 2.40
minimum | | | |
| | | |
Index at | | | |
upper | _74.5_| _78_| | _78.4_
flattening | | | |
| | | |
Tibiae: | (147)| (18)| (17)| (36)
| | | |
Length (in | 31.32| 31.90| 32.90| 32.50
position) | | | |
| | | |
Tibio- | | | |
femoral index| | | |
| | | |
(approximate)| _79.6_| _79.5_| | _80.4_
| | | |
At middle-- | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | | | |
| | | |
antero- | 2.71| 2.71| 2.80| 2.75
posterior | | | |
| | | |
Diameter | 1.89| 1.93| 1.92| 1.92
lateral | | | |
| | | |
Index at | _69.9_| _71.3_| _68.8_| _70_
middle | | | |
-------------+------------+---------+--------+------------

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 all the bones than the groups farther south, showing that they were both a somewhat taller and somewhat sturdier people.

The next fact of importance is the remarkable agreement in some respects in the relative proportions of the main skeletal parts between the people of the more southern and the more northern groups. The males are more regular in this respect than the females. The relative proportions of the humerus and again the tibia at their middle are identical in the males of the southwestern and midwestern groups and those farther northward; and the radio-humeral, humero-femoral, and tibio-femoral indices are all very closely related. Why there should be less agreement in these respects among the females it is difficult to say; in all probability the series of specimens are not sufficiently large.

The next table presents data and some racial comparisons. Here the western Eskimo are taken as a unit. They are seen to considerably resemble the Yukon Indians, but somewhat less so other Indians in the radio-humeral and tibio-femoral indices, and they resemble all the Indians in the relative proportions of the femur at its middle. In other respects there are somewhat more marked differences, especially between the western Eskimo and the Indians in general. Some irregularities in the Yukon series may be due to insufficiency of numbers.

When compared with the bones of the whites and the negroes the Eskimo and Indians separate themselves in many respects as a distinct group, while the white and the negro bones are particularly distinct through the greater relative thickness of the humerus and tibia at their middle, and of the femur at its upper flattening; in other words the Eskimo as well as the Indians are more platybrachic, platymeric and platycnemic than the whites or the negroes.

The basic relation of the Eskimo to the Indian bones is quite evident; though the Eskimo, when compared to Indians outside of Alaska, show a relatively shorter radius and tibia, indicating the already discussed relative shortness of the forearm and leg.

FOOTNOTES:

[191] Principally Hooper Bay, Nunivak Island, Pastolik, and St. Lawrence Island.

[192] Mainly Shishmaref, Wales and Golovnin Bay.

[193] Including Point Hope.

[194] Number of radii insufficient.

[195] Number of femora insufficient.

WESTERN ESKIMO, LONG BONES: COMPARATIVE DATA

MALES

---------------+--------+-------+------+----------+-------+------+-------
| | | Femur | | |
---------------+--------+-------+------+----------+-------+------+-------
|Humerus:| Radio-| Index| Index of|Humero-|Tibia:| Tibio-
| Index|humeral| of| shaft at|femoral| Index|femoral
| of| index| shaft| upper| index| of| index
| shaft| | at|flattening| | shaft|
| at the| |middle| | | at|
| middle| | | | |middle|
| (all| | | | | |
| groups)| | | | | |
---------------+--------+-------+------+----------+-------+------+-------
| [196]| (135)| (255)| (255)| (243)| (220)| (220)
| (243)| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Western Eskimo | 75.1| 75| 86.2| 76.5| 72| 67.9| 80.7
| | | | | | |
| (10)| (10)| (14)| (14)| (10)| (14)| (14)
| | | | | | |
Yukon Indians | 70| 75.7| 87.1| 70.7| 74.5| 66| 81.5
| | | | | | |
| (448)| (370)| (902)| (902)| (378)|(1259)| (324)
| | | | | | |
Other Indians | 73.3| 77.7| 87.3| 74| 72.5| 66.1| 84.4
| | | | | | |
| (1930)| (1052)| (207)| (836)| (800)|(1400)| (1216)
| | | | | | |
United States | | | | | | |
whites | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
(miscellaneous)| 83| 73.6| 97| 83| 72.5| 71.1| 82.1
| | | | | | |
| (112)| (74)| [197]| (48)| (50)| (63)| (68)
| | | (14)| | | |
| | | | | | |
United States | 84.1| 77.3|(91.2)| 86.8| 71.6| 73.9| 84.9
negroes | | | | | | |
---------------+--------+-------+------+----------+-------+------+-------

FEMALES

---------------+--------+-------+------+----------+-------+------+-------
| (213)| (133)| (153)| (153)| (153)| (183)| (183)
| | | | | | |
Western Eskimo | 74.1| 73.1| 90.2| 76.5| 71.8| 70| 80
| | | | | | |
| (348)| (200)| (327)| (248)| (200)| (910)| (384)
| | | | | | |
Other Indians | 70.1| 76.6| 91.8| 70| 72.5| 70| 84.3
| | | | | | |
| (770)| (424)| (100)| (192)| (290)| (600)| (520)
| | | | | | |
United States | | | | | | |
whites | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
(miscellaneous)| 79.3| 72.7| 97| 77.7| 71.6| 71.9| 81.5
| | | | | | |
| (52)| (34)| [197]| (48)| (52)| (44)| (48)
| | | (17)| | | |
| | | | | | |
United States | 79.2| 77.2| (100)| 81.1| 70.2| 75.9| 83.7
negroes | | | | | | |
---------------+--------+-------+------+----------+-------+------+-------

FOOTNOTES:

[196] Bones of both sides.

[197] Numbers insufficient.

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. But all these essays were based on observations on white people, and it has always been recognized that they could not with equal confidence be applied to other racial groups. They would in all probability be especially inapplicable to the Eskimo with his relatively short forearms and legs; yet the possibility of estimating the stature in many localities of the Eskimo territory, where no living remain, would be of real value. Fortunately for this purpose there are now some data on hand which make this possible.

In 1910, in my Contributions to the Anthropology of the Central and Smith Sound Eskimo, I was able to report both the stature and the length of the long bones in two normally developed adult males and one adult female from Smith Sound. To this it is now possible to add larger though less direct data from the group of St. Lawrence Island. We have the stature of many of the living from this place and also the measurements of numerous long bones from the dead of the same group. The relations of the two are given below, together with corresponding data from Smith Sound. There is in general such a striking agreement in the relative proportions that the latter may, it would seem, be used henceforth for stature estimates also in other parts of the Eskimo region.

FOOTNOTES:

[198] See section on Estimation of Stature from Parts of the Skeleton, in author's Anthropometry, Wistar Inst., Philadelphia, 1920.

LENGTH OF PRINCIPAL LONG BONES, AND STATURE IN THE LIVING, ON THE ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND

---------+---------------------+----------------------
| Male | Female
+---------------------+----------------------
| (63) | (48)
| Mean stature: 163.3 | Mean stature: 151.3
+----------+----------+----------+-----------
| | Percental| | Percental
| Mean | relation | Mean | relation
|dimensions|to stature|dimensions|to stature
| | (S = 100)| | (S = 100)
---------+----------+----------+----------+-----------
| (58) | | (49) |
Humerus | 30.41 | _18.6_ | 27.77 | _18.3_
| (23) | | (35) |
Radius | 23.03 | _14.1_ | 20.77 | _13.7_
| (100) | | (38) |
Femur | 32.54 | _27.8_ | 38.12 | _25.1_
| (58) | | (50) |
Tibia | 34.16 | _20.9_ | 31.13 | _20.5_
---------+----------+----------+----------+-----------

LONG BONES VS. STATURE IN ESKIMO OF SMITH SOUND[199]

---------------------------------+---------------+--------
| Male | Female
---------------------------------+-------+-------+--------
| _a_ | _b_ |
Stature | 155.0 | 164.0 | 146.7
Humerus: | | |
Mean length (of the two) | 28.95| 29.0 | 26.55
Percental relation to stature | _18.7_| _17.7_| _18.1_
Radius: | | |
Mean length | 21.3 | 23.2 | 19.85
Percental relation to stature | _13.7_| _14.1_| _13.5_
Femur: | | |
Mean length | 39.1 | 42.1 | 38.55
Percental relation to stature | _25.2_| _25.7_| _26.3_
Tibia: | | |
Mean length | 30.25| 34.45| 30.9
Percental relation to stature | _19.5_| _21.0_| _21.1_
---------------------------------+-------+-------+--------

FOOTNOTES:

[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.

A STRANGE GROUP OF ESKIMO NEAR POINT BARROW

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 as skeletal material. The collections eventually reached the museum, but due to lack of facilities they were in the main never unpacked.

I heard of this material first from Mr. Brower, with whom I sailed in 1926 from Barrow southward, and later with Dr. J. Alden Mason I saw the collection still in the original boxes, at the University Museum. In April of this year the skeletal remains were transferred to the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, and after their transfer I obtained the permission of Dr. Milton J. Greenman, director of the Wistar Institute, to examine the material, which was of importance to him in connection with his own collections from Barrow and southward. A due acknowledgment for the privilege is hereby rendered to both Doctor Greenman and Doctor Mason.

The study proved one of unexpected and uncommon interest. The material was found to consist of two separate lots. The first of these consisted of a considerable number of brown colored, more or less complete skeletons with skulls, proceeding from the "igloos"; while the second lot comprised a series of whitened isolated skulls, without other skeletal parts and mostly even without the component lower jaws, gathered on the tundra near Barrow. At first sight, also, the skulls of the two groups were seen to present important differences.

The "igloo" crania, while plainly pure Eskimo, proved to be of a decidedly exceptional nature for this location. The skulls, in brief, were not of the general western Eskimo type, but reminded at once strongly of the skulls from Greenland and Labrador. And they were exceptionally uniform, showing that they belonged to a definite and distinct Eskimo group.

After writing of this to Doctor Mason, he kindly sent me a copy of the notes and observations on the discovery of the material by W. B. Van Valin, who was in charge of the excavation. The detailed notes will soon be published by Doctor Mason. The main information they convey is as follows:

The excavations by Van Valin date from 1918-19. They were made in six large "heaps," approximately 8 miles southwest of Barrow and about 1,000 yards back from the beach on the tundra. Two of the heaps were on the northern and four on the southern side of a ravine or draw formed by a drain flowing from inland to the sea. The Eskimo at Barrow knew nothing about these remains or their people.

Each of the heaps inclosed what in the excavator's opinion was an "igloo" made of driftwood and earth; and all contained evidently undisturbed human skeletons. The total number of bodies of all ages was counted as 83, and they ranged from infants to old people. There were many bird and other skins (for covers and clothing), and numerous utensils. The hair on the bodies was in general "black as a raven." Most of the bodies lay on "beds" of moss or "ground willows," or rough-hewn boards. There was no indication of any violence or sudden death. The bodies at places were in three levels, one above the other; but there was but moderate uniformity in the orientation of the bodies. There were found with the burials no traces of dogs (though there were some sled runners), and no metal, glass, pipes, labrets, nets, soapstone lamps or dog harness; but there were bows and arrows, bolas, and ordinary pottery. The cultural objects, Doctor Mason wrote me, resemble in a smaller measure those of the older Bering Sea, to a larger extent those of the old northern or "Thule" culture. There were some jadeite axes, indicating a direct or indirect contact with Kotzebue Sound and the Kobuk River.

Some of the bearskin coverings were "as bright and silvery" as the day the bear was killed (Van Valin); and the frozen bodies were evidently in a state of preservation approaching that of natural mummies.

Notwithstanding indications to the contrary, Van Valin reached the opinion that these remains were not those of regular burials, though offering no other definite hypothesis.

Desiring additional information about this highly interesting find, I wrote to Mr. Brower, who assisted at the excavations, and received the following answer:

These mounds are from 5 to 8 miles south of the Barrow village
(Utkiavik). The largest that were opened were the farthest south,
and seemed more like raised lumps on the land than ruins. No doubt
that is the reason no one had bothered them.

The Eskimo have no traditions of these people. In fact they did not
even suspect the mounds contained human remains until Mr. Van Valin
started to investigate them.

While Van Valin thought they might be houses, I have always thought
they were burial mounds, as there seemed no family to have been
together at the time of death as often has happened. When whole
families have died from some epidemic, then the man and wife are
together under their sleeping skins. In these mounds each party was
wrapped separate, either in polar bear or musk ox skins; none were
wrapped in deer skins. If male, all his hunting implements were
at his side, and if a female her working tools were with her, as
scrapers, dishes of wood, and stone knives. The men had their bows,
arrows, spears, and often a heavy club, for what purpose unless
used in fighting I could not make out. At the head of each person
was a small receptacle, made of whalebone, and in it or alongside
was a long wing bone that had been used as a drinking tube. In some
cases there seemed to be the remains of food in the platters, but
that was impossible to identify. Most of the bodies were laid on
the ground, a few had the remains of scrub willow under them, while
only in two or three cases had there been driftwood planks under
the bodies; these were crudely hewn with their old stone adzes.

There seems to have been some sort of driftwood houses over these
bodies at some time, but they decayed and have fallen on the
remains, which were in some cases embedded in the ice. Often before
the frame had broken down earth must have accumulated and covered
the bodies. In these cases the flesh has the consistency of a fine
meal. While with those in the ice in some cases part of the flesh
still remained. In both cases when exposed to the air they rapidly
disintegrated, leaving nothing except the bones. By measurements
they must have been a larger race than the present people.

When your letter reached here I at once started making inquiries as
to what mounds were still intact; and I find that as far as known
only two of the larger ones have not been opened. The Eskimo have
been opening the mounds ever since they were found, taking from
them all the hunting implements and other material and selling them
aboard the ships for curios. It seems a shame that all this should
be lost to science, and if no one takes an interest in these places
in a year or two they will all be gone.

I have again made inquiries as to what the present Eskimo think of
these people, but they tell me they have no tradition regarding
them and that they do not know if they were their ancestors or not.
In fact, they are ignorant of where they came from or when they
died.

To date I do not know of any whaling implement being found with
these old people, neither is any of the framework of these mounds
made from the bones of whales. In some of the implements ivory has
been used. The mounds farthest from the shore were about 400 yards,
those that remain are closer to the beach. Some of the smaller ones
are on the banks of small streams but never very far from shore.
Undoubtedly, however, they were at one time considerably farther
from the sea, but the sea is every year claiming some of this land,
especially where the banks are high along the beach. There the
beach is narrow and during a gale the waves wash out the land at
its base. This is about all that I can tell you of these people.
All credit for finding these mounds belongs to Van Valin.

Yours truly,
CHAS. D. BROWER.

_The material._--The collection as received at the Wistar Institute was notable for its general dark color, enhanced in many of the specimens by dark to black remains of the tissues. There was no mineralization and but little bone decay, though the bones were somewhat brittle.

There is a scarcity of children and adolescents; there are in fact only two skulls of subjects less than 20 years of age in the collection.

The skulls and bones that remain show no violence.

The remains show a complete freedom from syphilis or other constitutional disease; the only pathological condition present in some of the bones being arthritis. This speaks strongly for their preceding the contact with whites. The surface series, though smaller, shows three syphilitic skulls. An additional fact of interest is the absence in both the igloo and the surface series of all marks of scurvy. Such marks are fairly common farther southward. Finally, none of the skulls are deformed, either in life or posthumously.

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" material was to get some further light on whether the remains were those of a group that perished of an epidemic, famine, or some other sudden agency, or whether they represented just burials. The age distribution of the dead would differ considerably in the two cases.

ESTIMATED AGES AT DEATH

IGLOO MATERIAL

------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| 20 to 25 | 30 to 40 | 45 to 55 | Above 55
------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|_Per cent_|_Per cent_|_Per cent_|_Per cent_
Males (27) | 11 | 15 | 41 | 33
Females (25) | 16 | 24 | 44 | 16
Mean, both sexes | 13.5 | 19 | 42.5 | 25
------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------

SURFACE SERIES

------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
Males (21) | -- | 5 | 48 | 48
Females (14) | 29 | 36 | 36 | --
Mean, both sexes | 11.5 | 17 | 43 | 29.5
------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------

The above table shows the data obtained, with those on the surface material from the same collection and known to be that of ordinary burials.

The results do not agree with the composition of the living population but are apparently near to what might be expected in burials. Taking the sexes apart, the series from the surface shows a somewhat more favorable condition for the men, but worse for the women. Taking the materials, however, regardless of sex, the proportions of ages in the earlier igloos and in the late surface burials are practically identical. This points strongly against the idea of the igloo remains being those of people who either died there of starvation, of an epidemic, of being smothered, or of some other sudden affliction, and to their having been just ordinary burials.

To arrive at something still more definite, if possible, I appealed on the one hand to the United States Census and on the other to Doctor Dublin of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, for data as to the distribution of ages among the dead, using the same age-categories as in the case of the "igloo" material. The data furnished by Miss E. Foudray through Dr. Wm. H. Davis, Chief Statistician of the Bureau of the Census, are particularly to the point. They are as follows:

PER CENT AGE DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN POPULATION IN ALASKA AGED 20
YEARS AND OVER, ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1900

-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
| 20 to 24 | 25 to 44 | 45 to 54 | 55 and over
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
Males | 17.8 | 54.2 | 15.9 | 12.1
Females | 19.4 | 53.3 | 15.9 | 11.4
Both sexes | _18.6_ | _53.7_ | _15.9_ | _11.8_
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------

PER CENT AGE DISTRIBUTION AT DEATH (ESTIMATED) OF INDIAN POPULATION
OF ALASKA IN 1900, WHO, HAD THEY LIVED, WOULD HAVE APPEARED IN THE
CENSUS OF 1910 AT AGES 20 YEARS AND OVER

-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
| 20 to 24 | 25 to 44 | 45 to 54 | 55 and over
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
Males | 13.2 | 43.9 | 21.3 | 21.6
Females | 11.9 | 47.0 | 19.5 | 21.6
Both sexes | _12.6_ | _45.4_ | _20.4_ | _21.6_
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------

There is a remarkable agreement of these figures with those obtained on both the Igloo and the Barrow surface burial material, except that for the two middle age series the figures are reversed. This may mean an error in the two respective estimates on the Indians, or it may mean that for these two ages the conditions among the Eskimo concerned were better than they were in 1900 among the Alaska Indians.

All the above, together with the details on the orderly treatment of the bodies, and the absence of such conditions as were encountered in the dead villages on St. Lawrence Island (Hooper, Nelson), inclines one to the conclusion that the Igloo remains, however exceptional the method for the Eskimo, were just burials.

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 strongly the crania of Labrador and south Greenland. It is the Labrador-Greenland type throughout, men, women, and even the two children. It is a group outside of the range of local variation. It is a strange Eskimo group, either developed here in former times as it developed in Greenland and Labrador, and possibly the Seward Peninsula, or one that had come here from places where such type had already been realized.

The following data (the individual measurements will appear in a later number of the Catalogue of Crania) show the differences between the Igloo and the surface material, the latter both of the Van Valin and of the author's collections, and the valuable Stefánsson material, now at the American Museum, from Point Barrow. They need but little comment. They show clearly on one hand the wholly Eskimo nature of the Igloo skulls, and on the other their distinctness from those of the later burials, both of Barrow and Point Barrow. The vault especially is characteristic--narrow, long, high, more or less keel-shaped. The face in general is much more alike in the three groups; nevertheless its absolute height and breadth in the Igloo series are slightly smaller than in the other two, and there are minor differences in the orbits and the palate.

ESKIMO CRANIA, BARROW AND VICINITY

--------------------+-------------------+-----------------
| Old Igloos | Surface burials,
| | Barrow
--------------------+---------+---------+--------+--------
| Males | Females | Males |Females
| (27) | (25) | (37) | (36)
--------------------+---------+---------+--------+--------
Vault: | | | |
Length maximum | 19.25 | 18.11 | 18.90 | 17.77
Breadth maximum | 13.30 | 12.72 | 13.73 | 13.23
Basion-bregma | | | |
height | 14.02 | 13.21 | 13.78 | 12.97
Cranial index | _69.1_ | _70.2_ | _72.6_ | _74.5_
Height-breadth | | | |
index | _105.5_ | _104.6_ | _99.6_ | _98.1_
Mean height index | _86.2_ | _86.4_ | _84.6_ | _82.9_
Cranial module | _15.52_| _14.72_| _15.46_| _14.66_
Face: | | | |
Height: menton- | | | |
nasion | 12.4 | 11.21 | -- | --
Height: upper | | | |
alveolar | | | |
point-nasion | 7.7 | 7.01 | 7.89 | 7.18
Breadth: Diameter | | | |
bizygomatic | | | |
maximum | 14.2 | 13.08 | 14.34 | 13.16
Facial index, | | | |
total | _86.9_ | _86.8_ | -- | --
Facial index, | | | |
upper | _54.5_ | _53.8_ | _55_ | _54.7_
Basion-nasion | 10.70 | 10.18 | 10.61 | 10.01
Basion-subnasal | | | |
point | 9.33 | 9.12 | 9.31 | 8.86
Basion-upper | | | |
alveolar point | 10.45 | 10.13 | 10.39 | 9.85
Lower jaw: Height | | | |
at symphysis | 3.72 | 3.38 | 3.95 | 3.27
Orbits: | | | |
Mean height | 3.62 | 3.47 | 3.60 | 3.61
Mean breadth | 3.97 | 4.01 | 4.04 | 3.88
Mean index | _91.3_ | _91_ | _89.2_ | _93_
Nose: | | | |
Height | 5.45 | 5.02 | 5.52 | 5.19
Breadth | 2.37 | 2.23 | 2.39 | 2.32
Index | _43.6_ | _44.4_ | _43.4_ | _44.7_
Alveolar arch: | | | |
Length | 5.57 | 5.34 | 5.59 | 5.22
Breadth | 6.68 | 6.29 | 6.45 | 6.13
Index | _83.4_ | _84.9_ | _86.6_ | _85.1_
--------------------+---------+---------+--------+--------

Let us now contrast the Igloo skulls with those of southern Greenland from the collection of the United States National Museum.[200] The size of the series is such that they are nicely comparable. And to the two is added a small recent series (A. H., 1926, and Collins, 1928), from Golovnin Bay and Sledge Island (Seward Peninsula).

MAIN MEASUREMENTS OF THE BARROW "IGLOO" AND OF GREENLAND ESKIMO
CRANIA

---------+--------------------------+--------------------------
| Males | Females
---------+--------+-------+---------+--------+-------+---------
|Golovnin| Igloos|Greenland|Golovnin| Igloos|Greenland
| Bay and| | | Bay and| |
| Sledge| | | Sledge| |
| Island| | | Island| |
| | | | | |
Number | (8)| (27)| (49)| (13)| (25)| (52)
of | | | | | |
specimens| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Vault: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Length | 19.20| 19.25| 18.97| 18.03| 18.11| 18.04
| | | | | |
Breadth | 13.70| 13.30| 13.61| 13.36| 12.72| 12.98
| | | | | |
Height | 14.08| 14.02| 13.95| 13.21| 13.21| 13.12
| | | | | |
Cranial | _71.3_| _69.1_| _71.8_| _74.1_| _70.2_| _72_
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Height- | | | | | |
breadth | _102.8_|_105.5_| _102.5_| _97.9_|_104.6_| _101_
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Mean | _85.6_| _86.2_| _85.7_| _84.2_| _86.4_| _84.6_
height | | | | | |
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Module | 15.66| 15.52| 15.51| 14.87| 14.72| 14.72
| | | | | |
Face: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Menton- | | | | | |
nasion | 12.70| 12.39| 12.38| 11.98| 11.21| 11.52
height | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Alveolar | | | | | |
point- | | | | | |
nasion | 7.90| 7.71| 7.61| 7.35| 7.01| 7.05
height | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Breadth | 14.29| 14.16| 14.05| 13.25| 13.08| 13.03
| | | | | |
Facial | _88.9_| _86.9_| _87.1_| _90.4_| _86.8_| _85.7_
index, | | | | | |
total | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Facial | | | | | |
index, | _55.3_| _54.5_| _54.1_| _55.4_| _53.8_| _54.1_
upper | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Orbits: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Mean | 3.65| 3.62| 3.64| 3.58| 3.47| 3.55
height | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Mean | 4.11| 3.97| 3.99| 3.92| 4.01| 3.85
breadth | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Mean | _88.8_| _91.3_| _91.4_| _91.2_| _91_| _92.4_
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Nose: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Height | 5.58| 5.45| 5.24| 5.15| 5.02| 4.99
| | | | | |
Breadth | 2.35| 2.37| 2.27| 2.29| 2.23| 2.20
| | | | | |
Index | _42.1_| _43.6_| _43.3_| _44.5_| _44.4_| _44_
---------+--------+-------+---------+--------+-------+---------

A comparison of the Igloo and Greenland series shows striking similarities; hardly any two geographically separate groups originating from a single source could reasonably be expected to come nearer. The Igloo skulls are even narrower in the vault than the Greenlanders, which means so much farther away from the southwestern, midwestern, and Asiatic Eskimo; and offer a few other differences, but all these are of small moment, not affecting the essential relations of the two groups.

A comparison of the Igloo and Greenland series with the material from Golovnin Bay and Sledge Island shows also numerous similarities but with them some rather material differences. The differences are especially marked in the females, whose characteristics approach more those of the midwestern Eskimo, which suggests that an important proportion of them may have been derived from the latter. However, even the males tend to differ. Both sexes show absolutely a somewhat broader skull than that of the northerners; in both sexes the skull, as seen from the cranial module, is slightly larger in the Seward Peninsula series than in either of the other groups; but the principal differences are seen in the face, which in the Seward Peninsula group is perceptibly larger and especially higher than it is in either the Igloo or the Greenland series. The orbits also in the southerners are larger and the nose is slightly higher.

On the whole it may be said that the resemblance of the Igloo crania to those of Greenland is closer than that to either or both of the series of Golovnin Bay and Sledge Island. This suggests the possibility that a similar though not quite the same differentiation in the skull may have taken place both in the Seward Peninsula and in the far north; though the possibility of a derivation of any one of the three groups from any of the others can not be discarded. So far as the skull is concerned a definite solution of the identity of the Igloo material would have to be, it would seem, postponed to the future.

The used data on the Greenland Eskimo skulls agree closely with those of Fürst and Hansen (Crania Groenlandica, fol., 1915), and also with the much fewer and scattered records of Virchow, Davis, Duckworth, Oetteking, Pittard, etc.,[201] on Eskimo skulls from Labrador.

_Stature and strength._--The bones of the skeleton of the Igloo series show the people to have been of good height and of above medium Eskimo robustness. The principal measurements are given below, together with the corresponding ones on the western and the Yukon Eskimo. The material is not all that could be wished for, either in numbers or representation, but it will suffice for rough comparisons. Regrettably nothing for comparison is available as yet from Greenland or other parts of the far northeast where we meet with long, narrow, and high skulls.

THE LONG BONES OF THE IGLOO PEOPLE AND OTHER ESKIMO BONES OF THE
TWO SIDES TOGETHER

Column headings:
A:
B:
C:

-----------+---------------------------+---------------------------
| Males | Females
-----------+---------------------------+---------------------------
| Igloo| Seward| Yukon|Igloo | Seward| Yukon
| | Peninsula|Eskimo| | Peninsula|Eskimo
| | and| | | and|
| |northwestern| | |northwestern|
| | Eskimo| | | Eskimo|
| | | | | |
Humerus: | (35)| (100)| (16)| (27) | (83)| (16)
| | | | | |
Length- | 31.17| 31.17| 32.10| 28.41| 28.82| 28.31
maximum | | | | | |
| | | | | |
At middle: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | 2.47| 2.46| 2.33| 2.11| 2.15| 2.07
major | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | 1.86| 1.85| 1.80| 1.60| 1.62| 1.51
minor | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Index | _75.2_| _75.1_|_78.2_| _76.1_| _75.1_|_73.2_
| | | | | |
Radius: | (31)| (37)| (16)| (17) | (24)| (16)
Length, | | | | | |
| | | | | |
maximum | 23.53| 23.50| 23.44| 20.98| 21.35| 20.18
| | | | | |
Radio- | _75.5_| _75.4_| _73_| _73.8_| _74_|_71.3_
humeral | | | | | |
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Femur: | (33)| (60)| (22)| (25) | (31)| (27)
Length, | | | | | |
| | | | | |
bicondylar | 43.86| 43.46| 43.78| 40.31| 40.44| 41.11
| | | | | |
Humero- | _71.1_| _71.7_| _73_| _70.5_| _71.3_| _69_
femoral | | | | | |
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
At middle: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | | | | | |
antero- | 3.37| 3.21| 3.05| 2.88| 2.88| 2.74
posterior | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | 2.90| 2.72| 2.67| 2.51| 2.56| 2.44
lateral | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Index | _86.1_| _84.8_|_87.6_| _87.3_| _88.9_ |
| | | | | |_88.8_
At upper | | | | | |
flattening:| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | 3.51| 3.32| 3.31| 3.09| 3.06| 3.02
maximum | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | 2.71| 2.59| 2.57| 2.30| 2.40| 2.27
minimum | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Index | _77.2_| _78.1_|_77.4_| _74.4_| _78.4_|_75.4_
| | | | | |
Tibia: | (29)| (79)| (22)| (24) | (36)| (27)
Length in | | | | | |
| | | | | |
position | 35.60| 35.52| 35.14| 31.94| 32.50| 32.01
| | | | | |
Tibio- | _81.2_| _81.7_|_80.3_| _79.2_| _80.4_|_79.8_
femoral | | | | | |
index | | | | | |
| | | | | |
At middle: | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | | | | | |
antero- | 3.26| 3.19| 3.16| 2.80| 2.75| 2.61
posterior | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Diameter, | 2.20| 2.16| 2.15| 1.87| 1.92| 1.90
lateral | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Index | _67.5_| _67.8_|_68.3_| _66.7_| _70_|_72.8_

The above table shows some remarkable and interesting conditions.

The first of the most apparent facts is that the type of the Yukon Eskimo stands well apart from both of the other series in a number of essentials, showing that it is not very nearly related and that it may be left out of consideration.

On the other hand the long bones from the Seward Peninsula and the northwest coast, especially those of the males, show very closely to those of the Igloo group. The male bones of the two series are almost identical, except that the Igloo bones are somewhat stronger.

Such close resemblances can hardly be fortuitous. They speak strongly for the basic identity of the old Igloo people with those of at least parts of the Seward Peninsula and parts of the northwest coast. If we take the bones from the Seward Peninsula alone (see p. 314) it is found that these resemblances still hold.

The evidence thus shown constitutes a strong indication that the old Igloo group may be inherently related to that part of the Eskimo population of Seward Peninsula which shows the long and narrow skull; but the data offer no light on the questions as to whether the Igloo group may have been derived from that of the Seward Peninsula or vice versa, and on the true relation of either or both of these to the Eskimo of Baffin Land, Greenland, and Labrador.

To definitely decide the problem of the Igloo group there are needed data on the long bones of the northeasterners; in the second place it is highly desirable to know how large and how ancient was the group of the narrow-headed people on the Seward Peninsula and Sledge Island; and in the third place it is important that the cultural history of the two groups be known as thoroughly as possible. All of which are tasks for the future.

The possibility of a development of the Igloo cranial type on the northwest coast itself can not be denied, in view of the facts that all its characteristics are within the ranges of normal individual variations on that coast, and that similar developments have evidently been realized elsewhere. But in such a case it would be logical to expect, locally or not far away, some ancestry of the group, and the group would not probably be limited to a little spot and a few scores of persons. Had the group developed incidentally from a physically exceptional family, it could not be expected to have been anywhere nearly as uniform as the group under consideration. The high degree of uniformity of the Igloo contingent speaks for a well accomplished differentiation; and as there is no other trace of this in the conditions near Barrow, and there are no ruins denoting a long occupation, the evidence is against a local development and for an immigration of the group. A coming of a small-sized contingent from the Seward Peninsula would be easy; its coming from Greenland or Labrador or Baffin Land would surely be difficult, but not impossible to the Eskimo, who is known to have been a traveler.

Whatever may be the eventual solution of the Igloo problem, it is plain that the presence of that group near Barrow, together with the presence of evidently closely related groups in a part of the Seward Peninsula and again in the far east of the Eskimo region, offers much food for thought and investigation. The most plausible possibility would seem to be a relatively late (within the present millennium) coming of a physically already well differentiated small group, from either the south or the east, with a relatively short settlement at the Barrow site, some local multiplication in numbers, and then extinction partly through disease, partly perhaps through absorption into a stronger and newer contingent derived from the western people.

FOOTNOTES:

[200] The measurements of this series have been published by the writer in the first part of the Catalogue of Human Crania in the U. S. National Museum (Proc. U.S.N.M., 1924, LXIII, art. 12, p. 26), but as a few errors crept in, the whole series was remeasured by the writer.

[201] For more exact references see writer's Contribution to the Anthropology of Central and Smith Sound Eskimo, Anthrop. Papers Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., N. Y., 1910, V, pt. 2; and the bibliography at the end of this volume.

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Anthropological Survey in AlaskaChapter XVI: Part 16

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