DESCRIPTION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 231 



brated shell-mound at Meilgaard, the surface is undulating, 

 the greater thickness of the shelly stratum in some places 

 apparently indicating the arrangement of the dwellings. 

 When the shell-mound at Havelse was previously visited by 

 Professor Steenstrup, the shells were being removed to serve 

 as manure, and the mound, presenting a perpendicular section, 

 was in a very favourable condition for examination. The 

 small pit thus formed had, however, been filled in, so that we 

 were obliged to make a fresh excavation. In two or three 



o 



hours we obtained about a hundred fragments of bone, many 

 rude flakes, slingstones, and flint fragments, together with nine 

 rude axes of the ordinary "shell-mound" type (figs. 108 110), 

 several of which, however, were picked up on the surface. 



Our visit to Meilgaard in 1863 was even more successful. 

 This, which is one of the largest and most interesting shell- 

 mounds hitherto discovered, is situated not far from the sea- 

 coast, near Grenaa in north-east Jutland, in a beautiful beech- 

 forest called "Aigt," or "Aglskov," on the property of M. Olsen, 

 who, with a praiseworthy devotion to science, has given orders 

 that the Kjokkenmodding should not be destroyed, although 

 the materials of which it consists are well adapted for the 

 improvement of the soil, and for other purposes, to which, 

 indeed, they had already been in part applied before the true 

 nature of the deposit was discovered. Arriving at his house, 

 without invitation or notice, we were received by M. Olsen 

 and his family with kindness and hospitality. M. Olsen 

 immediately sent two workmen to clear away the rubbish 

 which had fallen in since the last archaeological visit, so that 

 when we reached the spot we found a fresh wall of the shell- 

 mound ready for examination. In the middle, this Kjokken- 

 modding has a thickness of about ten feet, from which, how- 

 ever, it slopes away in all directions; round the principal 

 mound are several smaller ones, of the same nature. Over 

 the shells a thin layer of mould has formed itself, on which 



