In the 1930s, the famous Smithsonian archaeologist Henry B. Collins discovered 2000 year old Eskimo cultures by excavating ancient sites in the Bering Sea region. Since then, archaeologists have pieced together a detailed history of how Eskimos spread east along the arctic coasts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland to become the region's Inuit peoples of today. What remained unknown is the origin of the Alaskan proto-Eskimos. Did they develop from tundra hunting peoples of northern Eurasia? From river fishermen of the Amur who learned to hunt sea mammals? Or from early maritime peoples of Japan and Korea? The Bronze Age cultures and ceremonial deer stone art of Mongolia are beginning to provide answers.