Page:Archæology of the Central Eskimos.djvu/196

meat caches, built of large stones; 2 overturned kayak rests; 2 cairns. All these remains give the impression of being old and are presumably of the same period as the house ruins. On the point itself nearly all the tent rings are of the modern, lighter type; nevertheless, on the higher places there are several of the strong, old tent rings.

Nowhere else is it seen with such distinctness that the land must have risen considerably since these houses and other remains were constructed; as conditions are now it would be quite absurd to build them up on the high plateau, difficult as it is of access and with its few earth deposits, when at the foot of the plateau lies the extensive low point, with excellent building sites in the sand terraces; later comers have naturally pitched their tents here. Just as absurd would it be to drag meat and kayaks up there. The reason why this old settlement was not established on the point below can only be that the point was under water when these houses were built. In addition, it is very certain that the permanent winter houses belong to the same period as the strong oval and round tent rings. The construction of the houses places them in the same old culture period as the Naujan find; the specimens found do the same: they are all types that were well known at Naujan, whereas several of them such as the bola ball, the knife with side blades and the peculiar "whalebone shave" are unknown to the Aivilik Eskimos. The find at Aivilik is closely related to the Naujan find.

At other three places at Repulse Bay are there said to be ruins of permanent winter houses. I myself have seen some at Ships Harbour Islands, which lies about 12 kilometres east of Naujan. The most easterly of these is called in Eskimo: Iglordjuartalik, "the place with the big houses"; when I went there in January 1922 I found at the highest point of the island on a fairly level plateau, about 20–25 metres above s. l., two house ruins, circular, 7–8 metres in diameter; numerous whale bones project from the walls; the ruins are almost obliterated and seem to be very old; both the height above the sea level and the distance from the sea (about 400 metres) are much greater than would have been reasonable with the present water level. On Hall's map of Ships Harbour Islands^[1] these house ruins are indicated as "tumuli".

Near Beach Point (Esk. Tajarnaq) at the south side of Repulse Bay are, I was told, house ruins lying fairly high up and back from the sea; I did not succeed in finding them, however, when on a brief visit in August 1922. At Avatarpaitsiaq, at the east side of Haviland Bay, there are, according to the Eskimos, other house ruins.