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A Unique Specimen of Pressure-Flaked Pyrite from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Norman  and
Romayne L. Potosky
Norman
Affiliation:
Civil Aeronautics Administration, Unalakleet, Alaska
Romayne L. Potosky
Affiliation:
Civil Aeronautics Administration, Unalakleet, Alaska
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Extract

Attention is invited to a unique flaked pyrite object from the ancient village of Miyowaghameet, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. While specimens of unworked pyrite and certain pyrite-studded artifacts1 have been found at this and other Arctic sites, the specimen illustrated (Fig. 40) is, to the best of our knowledge, the only object of pressure-flaked iron pyrite reported from St. Lawrence Island and possibly from the Arctic coastal sites.

Miyowaghameet lies in a gravelly plain at the foot of Cape Chibukak, approximately one mile east of the Eskimo village of Gambell. Collins gives the average diameter for the site as one hundred yards; however the long axis runs roughly NE/SW, and the specimen herein described, while located within the eastern half of the midden, was found approximately sixty-five yards from the eastern edge.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , October 1947 , pp. 181 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1947

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References

Collins, Henry B. 1937. “Archeology of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 96, No. 1. Washington.Google Scholar
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Jenness, Diamond 1922. “The Life of the Copper Eskimos.” Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Vol. 12. Ottawa.Google Scholar
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