i6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is certain that since they were heaped up important changes 

 have taken place in Denmark changes in geography, in fauna, 

 in flora. The sea line has changed ; these heaps were formed at 

 the water's edge to-day many of them are at a considerable dis- 

 tance from the sea. The Baltic has become so fresh that oysters, 

 once abundant and very large, have abandoned its waters. The 

 hollows in the glacial deposits, during the centuries that have 

 elapsed since the ice sheet withdrew, have gradually filled with 

 peat formed by the decay of successive genera- 

 tions of plant life. The peat tells its own story to 

 the geologist and declares that Denmark was clad 

 in coniferous forests after the Glacial period ; later 

 it was covered with oak growth ; at present, and 

 for centuries past, beech has been the main arbo- 

 real product. Ah, well ! the " kitchen middens " 

 go back to the time of the evergreen forests. 

 Bones of the capercailzie or blackcock are found 

 in the shell heaps ; this bird dwells no longer in 

 Denmark, and it lives only on the buds of certain conifers. When 

 these old gatherers of shellfish and hunters of stags lived here 

 the Urus still inhabited Jutland, and game of many kinds was 

 abundant. 



Fig. 7. Bunt 

 Arrowhead. 

 Flint. 



#11 



{< 4v mm 



- Isl 



Fig. 8. Unpolished Celt. 

 Flint. 



Fig. 9. Polished Gelt 

 or Hatchet. Flint. 



A year since we visited a shell heap in West Jutland that was 

 being excavated under the direction of Mr. Neergaard, assistant 

 of the museum. Located at the edge and on the slope of a ter- 

 race, at some little distance from the sea, it extended for many me- 

 tres along the terrace, presenting a width of several metres and a 

 maximum thickness of T75 metre. It had been cut across by a 



