OCR Text |
Show BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY use by the Eskimo to- day. The houses are frequently found in regions no longer inhabited, and their presence in such places has been cited to support certain theories regarding Eskimo migration. 1 In the eastern and central part of the continent, south of the arctic circle, appear a great number of remains which, while varying in details, yet show distinct relationship. Many classes of objects are limited in distribution, and indicate the existence of local cultural areas, or, if of wider occurrence, admit of classification into different groups, yet archaeological remains in general have so far not yielded sufficient material to permit the specification of definite prehistoric areas of culture; and many parts of the continent, particularly the western and south central states, have been examined very superficially or not at all, and the prehistoric records are practically unknown. Moreover, the same region may be, and has often been, occupied in successive periods by peoples of different types. In view of the impossibility of any safe classification of human remains on the basis of the place of occurrence, we are forced to find some other classification, and a convenient one is a division into two groups: ( i) local antiquities or monuments, including all objects which are fixed or stationary; ( 2) movable antiquities, including all the various relics 1 Dall, " Tribes of the Extreme Northwest" { Contributions to North American Ethnology\ I., pt. i j . |