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dor. The find from Comer's Midden at Thule, in North Greenland, which has been treated together with the Central Eskimo finds, seems to be closely related to the Ponds Inlet finds (Qilalukan and Mitimatalik), but is more probably later than these; here, too, a commencing local development is traceable. Finally, in the Malerualik find from King William's Land we have a culture which, in certain directions, is at a more primitive phase than even the Naujan find, and which in addition shows more adaptation to caribou hunting than the more easterly finds.
As a contrast to these old finds we have the younger Anangiarsuk find from Parry's time, the grave finds from Malerualik and Ponds Inlet, the finds from the autumn houses at Qilalukan and Mitimatalik. In most places the separation between the two cultures seems to be distinct; only from northern Baffin Land have we grave finds which seem to form a transition from the one to the other.
If we now consider these old finds we will see that there is great similarity between them; in the main it is the same types of implements which reappear everywhere. And yet — not quite; the finds are by no means identical; they all bear the stamp of surroundings and period; hunting conditions and access to materials for the implements are different; customs and usages have changed in the course of time; there is undoubtedly a considerable age difference between the various finds. But still there is something which binds them together, and this is much stronger than that which separates them; it is on the basis of this mutual tie that we have grouped all these finds under the appellation of Thule culture.
In examining the position of this Thule culture within the Eskimo territory, seeing where it has come from, seeing how it has developed further and seeing what has become of it, we must first understand quite clearly what it is we are dealing with; we must define what we mean by Thule culture.
A culture is, as we know, a very complicated organism, consisting of a large number of elements; it is not a permanent, not an unchangeable structure, but is ever subject to the laws of development and adjustment. Nevertheless there are some elements which seem to form an integral part of the culture, which seem to be inextricably bound up in it. If we now take the elements of the Thule culture we will see that many of these are so common, so little characteristic and so widely spread that their presence in or absence from a find is of no significance; other objects may be so locally, indeed individually marked that no conclusions of any consequence can be drawn from them either. What we have to get hold of is what we might call the representative forms of the culture: types which at once seem
