Page:Archæology of the Central Eskimos.djvu/189

any rate until the land lay five metres lower than it does now. On the other hand these low-lying grave finds contain one or two types which show that they are the least ancient of the finds at Naujan; this is true of the harpoon head Pl. 37. 4, which is an advanced development of Thule types 2 and 3, the flat harpoon head Fig. 18 and the arrow head with obliquely cut shaft end. These last two specimens are the only grave finds which indicate a slight connection with the culture of the Aivilik Eskimos. They are both from Grave 52; but even in this grave the types of the ancient culture are predominant: the foreshafts, the facet-ground slate blade, the bird harpoon and the arrow heads with conical tang; grave 52 belongs, it is true, to the old culture, but it contains types which point towards later days.

From the earliest times Repulse Bay has been an important centre of habitation to the Eskimos; the splendid hunting possibilities here before the whalers spoiled big game hunting and European firearms drove the caribou and the musk ox away from the coast drew the Eskimos hither; one evening in July we could still count from the top of Naujan Hill 150 seals and bearded seals lying on the ice, sunning themselves. Nor is it necessary to go far afield before one sees that in former times the district has been one of the best populated in the whole territory; wherever one treads on land one comes across tent rings, meat caches, kayak supports, graves and other mementoes of habitation. Map 1 is a map of the north coast of Repulse Bay between Aivilik and Inuksulik, on which I have recorded all the remains I have found by systematic exploration; I drew the map during my sojourn in Repulse Bay December 1921–January 1922 and June–August 1922, partly from walking trips and partly from a number of observations. Although this map can neither lay claim to accuracy or to be quite exhaustive on the subject of the Eskimo ruins, still it gives an impression of how close together these ruins were.

Naujan, with its winter houses and its graves and the appurte· nant old summer settlements to the SW., especially on Cape Wel. come and on Simiutaq, is prominent as an important centre of habitation. The features of the winter settlement have already been copiously detailed; occasionally the large new tent settlement at the entrance to the fjord too. At one or two other places there is so much of interest that they also call for more detailed description.

On the island Simiutag three low-lying graves near the west end have already been referred to. On the north side of the island, an evenly ascending, stony slope, which at a cairn at the top reaches 40 metres above s. l., there are Eskimo ruins all the way to the top;