Peabody Alaska Expedition Finds Village Site And 'John Q. Adams', But No Original American

Adams is a good patrician name in Boston. But John Quincy Adams was rediscovered last summer at the northernmost tip of U.S. territory--Point Barrow, Alaska.

"Jawn," the latest namesake of several distinguished Harvard men and U.S. presidents, is a 64-year-old Birnik Eskimo, who has traveled the world, had his furs taken by the Russians, and has captured a white whale--unassisted--in his kyack. He was the most amusing, though not the most important discovery of Peabody Museum's expedition to the far north last summer.

Five local archaeologists, under the direction of W. K. Cartor, a graduate student here, flew to Barrow in order to continue a search begun in 1951 to determine when the Eskimos first entered the territory. Accompanying Carter were Theodore L. Stoddard, Jr., teaching fellow in Anthropology, William R. Bullard, Jr., now in Yukatan, William L. Kaschube, graduate student in geology at the University of Indiana, and Mrs. Carter, who served as a laboratory technician.

The trip last summer was a continuation of the reconnaissance trip in 1951, when the group spotted key locations for excavation. This year the expedition was able to find a "culture sequence," a change in the way of life in Alaska, extending over a period of 1000 years.

Navy Supports Expedition

The expedition was supported while in the field by the Arctic Research Laboratory, operated by Johns Hopkins University, which supplied food, lodging, and equipment to the travelers. The expenses, however, were paid by the Office of Naval Research. Carter said the Navy's interest in the field lay in "finding out how the Eskimos lived without support from the outside world in this unproductive area, in case the Navy has to operate from Barrow."

Carter revealed, however, that the Navy will not continue support when the group returns next summer. He said, "The Navy is now withdrawing support from fields where they have no direct immediate interest. This conservation of funds almost always occurs when there is a change in the national administration." The expedition will be supported next year by some research institution, which has not been finally determined.

After flying to Barrow, where they landed in a military airport, Carter and his crew set up headquarters in quonset huts and proceeded to recruit helpers from the Eskimos.

One Saw Will Rogers Crash

John Quincy Adams was only one of a distinguished crew of Eskimos which the expedition employed for excavation. Another of the Eskimos saw the fatal wreck of Will Rogers and Wiley Post off the Alaskan coast in 1935. It was he who ran to the village to report it.

John Quincy Adam's real name in Eskimo means "the women." He was given his Boston surname by white traders. John, the chief of the Eskimo crew, delights in telling in his pidgin English of his world travels. The white men who first recruited him took him to Siberia to trap furs. The Russians, however, took his furs from him. Carter described this incident as "just another example of Russian-Alaskan strained relations." He said there have always been ill feelings across the Bering Strait.

After being so badly treated by the Russians, Adams returned to Alaska by way of Hong Kong, San Francisco, and Seattle. Now he describes anything bright with the phrase, "as bright as the mirrors I saw in Seattle."

Evidence of Culture Found

But the real significance of the Barrow expedition lies in the finds which the Peabody Museum group made. As a result of the expeditions the last two summers and the one to be taken this summer, the first systematic report of the ancient village site will be prepared. Carter said that the report will take two years to complete. Although the ancient Eskimo village sites at Point Barrow have been known to scholars since 1912, no good report of them has been made thus far. The present project has revealed discoveries which show a definite culture sequence in the area.

Carter's crew excavated several "house mounds," the largest 100 by 20 feet. The mounds show a sequence of houses built one on top of the other. By examining the housing implements and utensils at the different levels, the group has been able to determine the state of civilization which the various stages of Eskimos were in, and from this, the approximate date at which they lived there and their means of unsupported survival.

In 1951 the expedition explored a 40 by 60 feet house mound in which they dug to the middle of a room. Upon their return last summer, they continued digging and found that the room was part of a five room house. The Eskimos, research revealed, lived in semi-subterranean houses, with sod block walls erected around frames of drift wood and whale bones. This form of building is unique at barrow, for most other Eskimo dwellings are single room houses of smaller size.

The group found over 6000 artifacts, implements, and household articles, among which was a toboggan. The expedition also located many human skeletons in the mounds--none, however, of the "original American." Carter said the search for the "original American" is a secondary purpose on all such surveys.

Exhibited at Peabody

All the articles found have been shipped to Peabody Museum, where they are being interpreted and catalogued. After they are processed, in about a year, they will be sent to the National Museum, because of the Navy sponsorship of the project. Carter stated that a few would "probably be kept" at Peabody.

At present the museum is showing a special exhibit of the Alaskan finds which will be supplemented when more of last year's relics have been processed.

The explorers from Peabody made their way over the tundra in the most "modern" of vehicles--the Weasel, an amphibious auto with tracks, ribs, and pontoons to keep it above water and to prevent it from sinking into the tundra. The group worked in continual daylight from July 1 to September 1, when the sun is constantly above the horizon.

Point Barrow is surrounded by treacherous ice flows. In 1856 a New England whaling fleet was lost at Barrow. Former explorations at Barrow have been hampered by the difficulty in approaching the area. Before the airport was built, the last expedition to the Point, which was made during the 1930's, had to spend the winter there, waiting for a ship to return for them after the ice melted.

But Carter and his crew will fly to the northland again this July, looking for buried Eskimo house mounds, the "original American," and--John Quincy Adams.