Northwest History. Alaska 7. Archaeology, United States

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1938
• Subjects: Seattle; Whites; Aleutian islands area; Dr. Ales Hrdlicka; Smithsonian Institution; Alan G. May; Wenatchee amateur archeologist; mummies; ancient Egyptian tombs; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Alaska; Pacific; Archipelago; eskimo*; Aleutian Islands; Siberia
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/89037

Old Aleutians Numerous Race: 50,000 Strong In Island Before Whites Brought Troubles, Says Hrdlicka. OLD ALEUTIANS NUMEROUS RACE 50,000 Strong in Islands Before Whites Brought Troubles, Says Hrdlicka. SEATTLE, May 20. (/P)—Five distinct races have lived in the Aleutian islands area and the population, now about 500, numbered some 50,000 before the first white men arrived a century and a half ago, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka of the Smithsonian Institution said today. Dr. Hrdlicka, accompanied by four undergraduate students and Alan G. May, Wenatchee amateur archeologist, sailed on the coast guard cutter Northland on his 10th expedition to the Aleutian archipelago. His work this year will include explorations in the caves and burial grounds of four and possibly six islands of the Aleutian group. A trip may be made to Siberia. "Our explorations in the past have proved five distinct races lived there," the famed archeologist said. "There were two races of the Eskimos, one of the Indians, one which we call the Aleutians and a fifth, who resided there before any of the others, whom we call the pre-Aleutians. We find remains of encampments, small villages, and even of large towns, covering several acres of land. "There is also evidence that before the Russians arrived the Aleutian islands had a population of some 50,000 people, where now few more than 500 live." Destructive wars and maladies brought in by the white people have almost wiped out the population, he said. The party will study caves on two of the islands where early people laid away their dead amid primitive implements and utensils. Last year's expedition uncovered a whole new stone culture, with implements of warfare and domestic economy fashioned in ways not previously discovered by explorers, he said. The burial crypts contained mummies not unlike those found in ancient Egyptian tombs.