------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
Males (21) | -- | 5 | 48 | 48
Females (14) | 29 | 36 | 36 | --
Mean, both sexes | 11.5 | 17 | 43 | 29.5
------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
The above table shows the data obtained, with those on the surface
material from the same collection and known to be that of ordinary
burials.
The results do not agree with the composition of the living population
but are apparently near to what might be expected in burials. Taking
the sexes apart, the series from the surface shows a somewhat more
favorable condition for the men, but worse for the women. Taking the
materials, however, regardless of sex, the proportions of ages in
the earlier igloos and in the late surface burials are practically
identical. This points strongly against the idea of the igloo remains
being those of people who either died there of starvation, of an
epidemic, of being smothered, or of some other sudden affliction, and
to their having been just ordinary burials.
To arrive at something still more definite, if possible, I appealed on
the one hand to the United States Census and on the other to Doctor
Dublin of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, for data as to
the distribution of ages among the dead, using the same age-categories
as in the case of the "igloo" material. The data furnished by Miss E.
Foudray through Dr. Wm. H. Davis, Chief Statistician of the Bureau of
the Census, are particularly to the point. They are as follows:
PER CENT AGE DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN POPULATION IN ALASKA AGED 20
YEARS AND OVER, ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1900
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
| 20 to 24 | 25 to 44 | 45 to 54 | 55 and over
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
Males | 17.8 | 54.2 | 15.9 | 12.1
Females | 19.4 | 53.3 | 15.9 | 11.4
Both sexes | _18.6_ | _53.7_ | _15.9_ | _11.8_
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
PER CENT AGE DISTRIBUTION AT DEATH (ESTIMATED) OF INDIAN POPULATION
OF ALASKA IN 1900, WHO, HAD THEY LIVED, WOULD HAVE APPEARED IN THE
CENSUS OF 1910 AT AGES 20 YEARS AND OVER
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
| 20 to 24 | 25 to 44 | 45 to 54 | 55 and over
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
Males | 13.2 | 43.9 | 21.3 | 21.6
Females | 11.9 | 47.0 | 19.5 | 21.6
Both sexes | _12.6_ | _45.4_ | _20.4_ | _21.6_
-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+-------------
There is a remarkable agreement of these figures with those obtained
on both the Igloo and the Barrow surface burial material, except that
for the two middle age series the figures are reversed. This may mean
an error in the two respective estimates on the Indians, or it may mean
that for these two ages the conditions among the Eskimo concerned were
better than they were in 1900 among the Alaska Indians.
All the above, together with the details on the orderly treatment of
the bodies, and the absence of such conditions as were encountered in
the dead villages on St. Lawrence Island (Hooper, Nelson), inclines
one to the conclusion that the Igloo remains, however exceptional the
method for the Eskimo, were just burials.