The story
The culture was initially named the Bering Sea culture by Canadian archaeologist Diamond Jenness in 1928, following the discovery on the Diomede Islands of distinctively decorated objects such as whaling and sealing harpoon heads. The adjective "Old" was added by Smithsonian archaeologist Henry B. Collins to distinguish the culture from younger materials with similar design elements.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.