571.93(42.25) 40 [JuLY 



IV 

 Primeval Refuse Heaps at Hastings 



"TTTHEN we reflect upon the abundance of refuse heaps left 

 VV by early man on the eastern coast of the North Sea, as 

 compared with similar accumulations on our own shores, we are 

 tempted to seek a reason for the remarkable difference. In the 

 former region these relics of man exist for many miles upon the 

 shores as enormous heaps, hundreds of yards long and hundreds of 

 feet in width, usually varying from three to six feet, but sometimes 

 attaining as much as ten or twelve feet in thickness ; while in 

 England they are practically unknown. 



There are several facts in connection with these old refuse piles 

 which may assist us in our search for them in the British Isles. 

 In the first place they are the relics of a people who lived upon 

 fish, supplemented by such animal food as they were fortunate or 

 clever enough to obtain. Darwin, in his " Journal " (p. 234), 

 draws a picture of the shellfish-eating Tierra del Fuegians which, 

 though a very dismal one, would doubtless equally well describe 

 what might have been seen on the shores of the Baltic in the 

 period under consideration : — " The inhabitants living chiefly upon 

 shell-fish are obliged constantly to change their place of residence, 

 but they return at intervals to the same spot, as is evident from 

 the pile of old shells." Obviously, the refuse and rubbish of these 

 people would be confined to the coast, for had they penetrated into 

 mid-country their relics would necessarily be in the main of a 

 different nature. It is also evident that the comparative stability 

 of a coast line is essential to the existence of the " Kitchen- 

 Middens " ; and this idea is supported in Denmark itself, where 

 these accumulations are found far more plentifully around the more 

 permanent and protected fjords, than upon the ever-varying sea- 

 board. On the eastern side of England the cliffs have been 

 wasting practically ever since the incursion of what we call the 

 North Sea, and the breach by the Straits of Dover. It thus be- 

 comes obvious, that searching for these deposits in these or 

 similarly circumstanced localities would be hopeless. If, on the 

 other hand, we can get a firm unwasting coast line, furnished 

 with convenient rock-ledges, which at once offer shelter while 

 in use and immunity from destruction of deposits formed upon them, 

 we have all the necessary conditions for the existence of Kitchen- 

 Middens, and there they will doubtless be found all round the coast. 



