A close-up view of one of Gambell's 'bone yards'––it's easy to see how they came by their name! With the Yupik villagers discarding their walrus, seal and whale bones for centuries, these middens, and the accumulated organic material, hold the most plant life on the point. That plant life is highly attractive to the birds that find their way to Gambell. At the same time, once discarded as worthless garbage, the old ivory hidden beneath the gravel, dirt and plant life is increasingly valuable to the native art carvers. This has made the 'bone yards' the site of buried treasure.