Page:Archæology of the Central Eskimos.djvu/480

land finds on the other; he is also of the opinion that the difference in culture between the find from Comer's Midden and the present-day Polar Eskimos is no greater than that we may assume that Comer's Midden was formed by the forefathers of the Polar Eskimos; finally, he points out that there are no objects from other old house ruins in the Cape York district which indicate the presence of a still older culture in that region. On the whole I can accept Wissler's views. I would merely add that the find from Comer's Midden takes its place as a natural link in the chain of the old Central Eskimo finds: Naujan, Chesterfield Inlet, Kuk, Mitimatalik and Qilalukan, those finds which, just on account of their likeness to the find at Comer's Midden, have been grouped under the name of the Thule Culture.

That Comer's Midden belongs to the same period of culture as these other old finds is obvious; it is the same types that predominate in each of them. Of forms characteristic of this old Central Eskimo culture which are found in the collection from Comer's Midden described in the foregoing may be mentioned: the Thule harpoon head types 1 and 3, arrow heads with conical tang, sealing stool, knife with side blades and with end socket, hand drill, mattock, adze head, ulos without tang, gull hooks, lamps with a ridge near the front edge, round cooking pots, bird figures and, besides, the many baleen objects: weapon points, knives, sledge shoes, platform coverings. If we include the collection described by Wissler this list can be increased by the broad snow knives with one and two shoulders and the hammer. Compared with these points of resemblance the differences are insignificant; of types from Comer's Midden which are unknown in the Central Eskimo finds there are only few: the thimble holder, the "bodkin", the female figure with toupee and the Ituartit harpoon head, as well as the peculiar, unfamiliar baleen implement fig. 103; in addition there are different variants of the already known types; the flat harpoon head with closed shaft socket was found in layer C and is thus later than the bulk of the find. In particular, the liberal use of baleen for all possible implements, which here seems to be more in evidence than anywhere else, attaches Comer's Midden closely to Naujan and Qilalukan; there is no doubt that these finds belong to the same culture period. If we examine which of the Central Eskimo finds Comer's Midden is akin to, it will be seen that Qilalukan in distance and presumably also in period is closest. The sealing stool, the platform covering, the lamp with ridge (not a row of knobs) and the flat harpoon head are types that are not known from Naujan but from Qilalukan. In addition, there is the striking absence of ornamented specimens; the only ornamented object from Comer's Midden is the thimble holder, and its ornamentation is pri-