Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-07
SCIENTISTS TO SEEK
ANCIENT VILLAGES.
Expeditions to Search Soon
for Vanished People From
Arctic Circle to Mexico.
ny THOMAS B. HENRY.

ecabtered from the Arctic coast to
IRA Rio. Qrande, Smithsonian 1nstitu-
ton archeoipgists and anthropologists
w4ll hunt with picks and shovels this
summer for the remains Of vanished
peoples.
DR.. Ales Hrdlicka, curator Of physical
anthrouology, Is leaving this week for
the Alaskan Peninsula. now prac-
ideally uninhaloited region, where he
wfil expiore the lake and river passes
by which the early inhabitants of
Ncrth America made their way south
ward across this forbidding barrier.
Here was meeting and diffusion point
Of, three races, the Eskimo. the Aleutss
and the Indians.
Sought New waterways.
The early peoples, DR.. EIrdlicka says,
chung to the Bering Sea coast on their
Way soarfhward until they came to this
long, desolate tongue of land. where
they were obliged to hunt waterways
which involved as little portage of their
boats Is possible. These passes were
by way Of three great interior lakes
IiamnA, Maknek and Becharotd.
DR.. Hrdlicka viii attempt to cross
over by one Of these routes to Kodiak
Island, where several large mounds have
bean located, evidently the sites of an
1cient villages. He will dig into these
mounds to learn what culture remains
they contain.
The Smithsonian anthropologist also
Uians to take physical measures and
Scasts Of as many full-blooded Aleuts
saS can be found in any of the villages.
rkVnnm- A.. - NnA
-0f the AleutiAn Island chain, he says,
ARE Of Indian racial stock, but speak
IAN Esquinoid language as a result Of
their many contacts and fights with
stiae northern. people. The pure Aleut,
he explains is practically extinct
Through admixture with other races,
and IN q few more years It will be i'm
possible to tell what sort Of people
snaents are taken at once.
Culture Traces Found.
Two other Smithsonian Psychologists.
flames A. Ford and Moreau B. Cham
sbers, win excavate kitchen middens at
Point Barrow on the Arctic Coast of
Alaska, the farthest point north under
the American nag. Here traces have
been found Of the most ancient Eskimo
sCulture-the artistically engraved uten-
smils Of fossil ivory, which represent one
rOf the highest reaches Of primitive art.
: Here, almost on the roof of the world,
two cultures parted. One, the celebrated
Thule culture Of the Eskimos, extended
westward along the Arctic coast and
Canada and into Greenland. The other,
presumably brought in a high state of
deVeIopment from Siberia in very an
Gent times, gradually degenerated into
that of the Alaskan Eskimo of today.
The strange point is, according to
Henry B. Collins, assistant curator of
seetInclogy Of the National Museum, that
the earliest known is the best From
4 the Point Barrow remains onward in
time the graceful curvilinear lines be-
come more rigid and geometrtcal and
ssthe ivory implements less efhcient. It
indicates that the origin Of the Eskimo
grace must be sought long ways in the
Ialadens Are Located.
: A Rreat deal Of scientific interest will
Ase conferred on this lonely Arctic OUT
post Of the United States this Summer.
q Be9ideg the Smithsonian expedition, one
rs MANNED by the Carnegie Institution
al washington, and o Government sta
stl0n m the. international Arctic year
program viii be established here. The
Kitchen naid6ens where Ford and Cham
hers win work already have been To-
yeated and they viii put Eskimo diggers
Mt work as soon as they arrive. Work
ut FONT Barrow, where there Is large
Eskimo village and . Presbyterian mis-
zion and hospital, must be completed in
three or four weeks. The Psychologists
plan to 90 there on the first ship which
rails northward after the ice Is broken,
some time in June, and must leave late
IN the Summer before the ice forms
again, or remain marooned for the
Excavations also are planned on st.
lawrence Island, in the Boring Sea,
where Smithsonian scientists have made
extensive researches for the past two
Summers.
To Search Ozark Cave.
: Remains Of an ancient cave-dwelling
people In the Ozark Mountains Of
Northwestern Arkansas viii be inveSti-
gated by Or. Winslow NJ Walker Of
the Bureau Of American Ethnology. A
local farmer, excavating In q bank to
build Q potato shed. uncovered the
mouth Of large cave just inside which
were the ashes of o fire. This cave
evidently had been sealed for CEN
turtles. There Is considerable evidence,
according TO Mathew W. Stirling, chief
Of the bureau, that this region was
occupied by an ancient people, possibly
akin to the basket makers.
Z Frank M. Settler. assistant curator Of
archaeology, Is conducting archaeological
explorations In Southern Texas. where
pottery remains Of Mexican origin have
bean reported. He will seek for evil
dence Of actual contact between the
nnound. huilding tribes Of the Lower
akississippi VALLEY and the population
Of Northeastern Mexico.
: DR.. Frank II. H. Roberts IT,. plans
20 excavate newly discovered ancient
Pueblo site In Arizona.