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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



vine mollusks the oyster, cockle, mussel, and periwinkle being 

 the most common. Scattered through, this mass of shells are 

 bones of mammals, birds, and fishes, fragments of rude pottery, 



flint flakes, an occasional im- 

 plement of bone, or a roughly 

 chipped axe or knife of flint. 

 Here and there are to be seen 

 signs of fires. The word 

 Jcjoeklcenmoedden means a 

 kitchen-refuse heap, and that 

 is just what we have. These 

 " kitchen middens " are old 

 camp sites. Here men once 

 lived. These shells and bones 

 are refuse from their meals ; 

 these bits of pottery are parts 

 of their dishes ; these flint 

 and bone tools were lost or 

 discarded by the earliest 

 Danes. Although living 

 mainly upon mollusks, the 

 man of the shell heaps was 

 also a hunter. We have re- 

 ferred to bones of beasts and 

 birds in the heaps. The emi- 

 nent zoologist Prof. Steen- 

 strup, still living though now a very old man, carefully studied 

 the " kitchen middens." He made an estimate of the frequency 

 of bones in the heaps ; each cubic foot contains ten to twelve 

 bones of birds and mammals. It will easily be seen that the num- 

 ber of individuals represented in a large heap is really very great. 

 The mammals found most frequently are the stag, reindeer, and 

 wild boar. The relics from the shell heaps are of very rude work- 

 manship. Flint flakes (Fig. 4) are common ; a little chipping 



Fid. 3. SOPIIUS MtJLLER. 



Fig. 4. Flake. Flint. 



makes one of these into an axe, a knife, a saw, or an adze (Figs. 

 5 and 6). Occasionally little broad-edged chipped flints are found 

 i Km. ; ). The type is one found in other parts of Europe, and it 

 has given rise to considerable discussion among archaeologists. 

 There can be little doubt, however, that they are really blunt- 



