Anthropologist Challenges Scientific
Theory of Siberia-Alaska Migration
BRISTOL, R.I. Wi — A Brown
University anthropologist has cal
lenged the popular scientific
theory of mass migration eastward
from Siberia through the Arctic
regions of North America and on
to Greenland in ancient times.
On the basis of studies in Alas
ka’s Bering Strait region, Dr. J.
Louis Giddings said yesterday he
believes there was no great move
ment of Asiatic peoples across
the land bridge that once con
nected Siberia with Alaska, as
other scientists and their text
books long have maintained.
There was a “circumpolar
spread” or “drift” of Ideas and
methods freely across the Arctic
region all the way from Central
Siberia to Greenland but no great
movement of peoples in the pre
cise definition of “migration.” Dr.
Giddings is convinced.
He has dug up evidence of
strong and almost unbroken oc
cupation of cultures in Western
Alaska dating beck to 4,000 B.C.
and Dr. Giddings is convinced
that “the same gene pool” has
continued in that region for at
least 6,000 years.
“Spread is the answer, and not
migration,” the Brown scientist
declared, at a press briefing on his
past four summers of archaeo
logical research. The briefing was
held at the Haffenerffer Museum
of tiie American Indian, where
Dr. Giddings and his associates
are processing some 15,000 man
made objects accumulated in
Alaskan excavations.
Scientific textbooks, he said,
have taken two views of the
theory of migration out of Asia, j
Some talk in terms of people on
the march, packs upon their
backs, to a promised land. Others
consider that there was no move
ment in hordes but a trickling
movement eastward, impeded by
the young and aged, as though it
were a forced march.
Dr. Giddings has traced the
“continuity of population” in the
Cape Prince of Wales area of
Alaska — the farthest western
•point of the North American con- i
tinent — back 6,000 years to the
“Denbish flint complex.” This
Alaskan culture achieved “enor
mously detailed” results in the
flint work (arrow and spear
heads) unearthed by Dr. Gid
dings and his associates.
He described it as “the most
meticulous and detailed flint work
anywhere in the world.” They
were not content with ordinary
engraving tools but developed
needle-pointed flints with which
they worked stone so intricately
that it must be examined under
magnification to be appreciated.
A characteristic of the flints
of the Denbish culture is diagon
ally notched points, with saw
toothed edges.
“Nothing quite like them ever
has been seen in America,” Dr.
Giddings said. He compares them
with finds made in archaeological
digs in Denmark and Egypt.
LICENSED VEHICLES IN
ALASKA SHOW INCREASE
JUNEAU Ufl — There was a 7.5
per cent increase in the number
of motor vehicles licensed in
Alaska this year as compared
with 1960, the State Highway Di
vision said yesterday.
The increase, according to a
preliminary report issued by the
Department of Commerce, was
the highest, from a percentage
standpoint, for the 50 states.
Hawaii was second with a 6.5 per
cent increase.
The report did not list actual
figures for 1961, but Alaska’s
total motor vehicle registration
last year was 61,924.
U.S. to Conduct
“Project Gnome”
Nuclear Explosion
President John Kennedy an
nounced that he has approved the
conduct of a nuclear experiment
known as “Project Gnome” which
is a part of the Atomic Energy
Commission’s Plowshare program
to develop peaceful uses for nu
clear explosives. Preparations for
this project, the first nuclear eX
plosion in the Plowshare program,
have been underway since March
of 1960. This is a further example
of this country’s desire to turn
the power of the atom to man’s
welfare rather than his destruc
tion.
The project involves the detona
tion of a nuclear device about
1,200 feet underground in a salt
formation near Carlsbad, New
Mexico. The date for the exr*»ri
ment will be fixed by the com
mission at a later time; however,
it now appears that it will occu
in about 60 days.
The* project is a multiple pur
pose experiment designed to pro
vide scientific and technical in
formation on: (1) the possibility
of recovering useful power from
the heat generated by a nuclear
explosion; (2) the feasibility of
recovering commercially or sci
entifically valuable isotopes pro
duced by such explosions; (3) neu
tron physics and other scientific
theory; (4) effects of a nuclear
explosion" in salt; and (5) design
principles useful in developing
nuclear explosive devices speci
fically for peaceful purposes.
The United States will welcome
observers from interested United
Nations countries as well as news
media and the scientific com
munity.
Jaycees, now a quarter of a
million strong, work for com
munity betterment in 4,100 com
munities in the nation.
---—---4
New Problem Confronts ABC Board
By Ward T. Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
JUNEAU HP) — A new problem,
almost as knotty as the closing
hours dispute which exploded in
1959, is swirling around the three
man Alcoholic Beverage Control
Board.
It has also enmeshed many re
tail liquor dealers in the western
portion of the state.
Basically, the problem is this:
Does a retail liquor license give
the licensee the right to ship
liquor to a purchaser in another
area, including a “dry” area?
Liquor dealers in many areas
of the westward have long en
gaged in the "practice of making
retail shipments of liquor by air,
lx>th on a prepaid and COD basis.
But, Superior Court Judge Hugh
Gilbert said in a recent statement
in Nome that the only legal
liquor sale is made in a liquor
store.
While apparently directed pri
marily at COD sales, Gilbert’s
statement left the liquor dealers
wandering in a twilight zone.
First ol all, Gilbert’s statement
does not constitute legal prece
dent, it was merely a dictum, a
[ statement of law going beyond
the requirements of the case then
before him.
His comment was only inci
dental to a case not involving
the state’s liquor laws, but rather
a case involving larceny.
It gives an indication of Judge
Gilbert’s views on the subject of
liquor sales, but it is not binding
on any other court.
Also troublesome for the deal
ers is the fact that the state’s
liquor regulations are extremely
vague on the point in question.
In regulations dealing with dr|y
areas, it is very clear that no
liquor may be sold in such areas.
But, the law is silent as to
whether liquor may be shipped or
transported into such areas if it is
purchased elsewhere.
Another Question
This brings on another question,
one well known in dry areas of
Alaska and in areas where there
are no retail liquor stores.
If shipments of liquor from
legitimate dealers are stopped,
will bootlegging increase, along
with exhorbitant prices to the
purchaser?
One airline operating in west
ward Alaska, cm the advice of its
attorney, is accepting retail
liquor shipments as usual.
Thomas N. Martin, manager of
a liquor store at Nome, summed
up the problems the dealers face
in the following comment in a
letter to the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Board:
“The retail stores cannot af
ford the loss of business, but
i neither do we want to put our
licenses in jeopardy.”
Martin suggested a test case.
The ABC Board said it would not
recommend that anyone violate
the law.
In an effort to clarify the situ
ation, the ABC Board has tenta
tively scheduled what, is described
as a series of informal, fact-find
ing hearings during the first
week in December.
Board Chairman Bill Ray of
Juneau said the hearings will be
conducted in Nome, Fairbanks,
Anchorage and Juneau, cm dates
still to be selected.
If a person in a dry area where
no retail liquor stores exist sends
monfey to a liquor store in another
arfea and orders liquor shipped
to him, does the business trans
action actually take place in the
liquor store?
That is where the actual trans
fer of money from buyer to seller
takes place, even if the buyer
does not receive his merchandise
at that time.
If such a dealing does repre
sent a legal business transaction
in the liquor store and yet it is
illegal to ship liquor purchased
in such a manner, are in-town
deliveries of liquor illegal too?
Is it illegal to order liquor from
a retail store by phone?
The practice of bootlegging is
Mr. Sam't Spirits Rise
BONHAM, Tex. iff) — House
Speaker Sam Rayburn, his spir
its rising on his return to his
hometown from a Dallas hospital,
rested well last night, his doctors
said today.
A hospital bulletin added that
the 79-year-old lawmaker “is tak
I ing liquids well—some food.”
His basic condition remained j
unchanged, said the bulletin, i
Rayburn is suffering from incur- j
able cancer.
COSTLY DELAY . . .
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (*> — John
1 Gentry ran to the telephone when
I fire broke out in his home Mon
day.
Someone was talking on the
four-party line.
“I told them, ‘•please give me the
line! My house is on fire!’ ” Gen
try said, “but a man said ‘oh,
yeah, we know. My giouse is on
fire, too.’ ”
Gentry’s wife finally ran to a
neighbor’s house to call firemen.
Battalion Chief Robert Howard
said he couldn’t tell ho# much
of the $2,200 damage was due to
the lost time, but the delay “cer
tainly was a factor.”
Applications Being Taken
For Postmaster at Kotzebue
KOTZEBUE — An examination
for the position of postmaster has
been announced by the US. Civil
Service Commission, Washington
25, D.C, Applications should be
filed with the commission in
Washington, postmarked not later
than Nov. 21, 1961. Open only to
bona fide residents of Kotzebue,
the position carries a salary of
$5,370 phis a 25 per cent cost
of-living allowance.