Iditarod pioneer., 1917-06-02
rlUMMY FROM ALASKA
 AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Evidence in the hands of experts who have made a study of the mummies of the Alaska coast indicates that the methods em- uloyed are of great antiquity, some authorl- ties asserting they were handed down from an age before the Aleutian islands had metal implements The fact that they used no preservatives like the Egyptians Is pointed to as proof that perfect mummiicatlon has been the result more of accident than the kill of the physician of earlier times. The greater part of those found had neither weapons nor utensils buried with them.
 Alaska has ever been looked upon as a land of romance where fortunes in placer gold could be found in the creek beds, and a mans life hung by 8 hair But with the discovery of Alaska mummies it has taken its place beside Egypt as land Of interest to the ethnclogist An Alaskan mummy Is IS dry and brown as any which have been swathcd in the linen of Egypt
 The museum of the University of Wash ngton, at Seattle. contains a mummy that was evidently one of the three once on display in a saloon at Ellamar, a new min ing town on Prince William sound. Curator F. & Hail of the museum doesn't know how it happened to get into the university mu- scum, but he thinks it is one of the Ella mar mummies which lured Professor Ed mond S. Meany to the Aleutian islands a few summers ago.
 The first discovery of the Alaskan num- mics was made by the Alaska Commercial Company in 1874, on KagamiI island. Thir- teen mummies were removed from one bur ial place, eleven of which were sent to the Smithsonian Institution and two to the California Academy of Science Since that time the three on display at the Ellamar saloon are all that have been found.
 When the ancient Aleut prepared his de- ceased relatives for burial the body was doubled up so that the chin rested between the knees and the arms were locked about the legs The body was wrapped in furs, grass cloth or other material, according to the wealth of the family, and was laid away in a burial box, or placed in a dry cave. Rocks then were stacked against the body and a board covered the mound. The Kagamil mummies evidently were prepared to be swung from the walls or roofs of caves, but those examined by Professor Meany, on Prince William sound. bore no such evidence.
 No salt or other preservatlve was used in preparing the body for burial, according to Professor Meany, On Prince William sound the burial caves are simply overhang ing cliffs quite open to the effects of the air Professor Meany believes that the mummies are accidental, having dried in the pure air of that high altitude
 This method of burial was used in the Stone Age of the Aleuts as no sign of metal was found in any of the graves The boards which covered the graves are apparently made of spruce one side of which was cleaved and the other showing rough marks of the stone adz. These facts, together with the absence of beads or other signs of white men, lead Professor Meany to believe that these mummies were buried by the Aleuts before they had been visited by white men, according to the say ings of the older Aleuts, about l72O or 1730; so they must have lain undisturbed for from IA to l54 years The collection in the university museum, aside from the mummy, includes grave board a dugout canoe some twelve feet long, scattering collection of beads and ornaments, and a few skulls
 Professor Meany visited another grave on the southwest side of Glacier island front Ing on Columbia glacier The body found there had become a skeleton, but 1t had