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A FiAMtiDA Shell Moixd. By U. F. (iLHK. 



These old sliell mounds are (jiiite numerous on the Atlantic coast of Florida, 

 and are located principally on liotli shores of the salt water lagoons, the greater 

 numher heiny fonnd on the western or mainland shores and near the water. 



Tiie monnd in (jnestion is on the western shore of the Halifax higoon. and 

 within the town limits of Daytona, Valnsia Connty, Florida. It is an enormous 

 '■ kitchen midden "or hack door refuse heap, covering at least an acre of surface ten 

 feet thick, and containing something like four hundred thousand cubic feet of 

 shells, bones and pottery. We had a good opportunity of studying the mound, 

 measuring sections, etv., as it was being hauled away to construct streets and 

 roads. More than half this enormous pile of rubbish has been removed in the 

 past two years, opening up the mound in its various features to the curious student 

 and archa'ologist. 



The contents of the heap are arranged in layers or strata of shell and soil, the 

 layers varying in thickness in difiTerent sections (as ])er chart ), the rule being a 

 layer of shells from two to three feet in thickness, and resting on this from '^iglit 

 to ten inches of soil. There are two or more such formations of decoiuposed shell 

 soil found between the bottom and top, the first being from three to four feet above 

 the general level, which is from three to four feet aljove low tide in the lagoon near 

 by. Above this soil strata is another of shell two feet thick, followed by another of 

 soil, several feet more of shell reaching to the top. The surface of the mound has 

 quite recently been cini-red with a heavy growth of forest trees, such as livi' oak, 

 Avater oak and wild orange, some of these several hundred years old. A portion 

 of the mound is enclosed, and forms part of the grounds of a Daytona resident. 

 These grounds are rich in tr<)pical and semi troi)ical plants and trees, the aloe. 

 banana and tropical j)awpaw growing luxuriantly with the fig, oleaiuler and oi ;inge. 

 Shells, bones and pottery form the princi}>al part of the contents of the nun d, 

 about 9") pt. siiell, ■") \)l. bone, jxittery, roots, etc. The orange and live o;ik root- 

 find their way through the ten feet of shell and soil into the moist earth Ix iieatii. 

 making all imaginable crooks and angles on their way down. 



The oyster is the shell found in greatest abundance. The small salt-water 

 clam, conch, quahaug clam and sea-snail follow in the order nameil. \\'hen the 

 water is not too fresh, the oyster is found in the Halifax lagoon. The other > hells 

 belong to the ocean. The inflow of fresh water often destroys the oyster, llvidt'uce 

 of this is seen in the mound by a layer of oyster shells being covered by one ()f the 

 small clams from the ocean beach. The rough (Fulgar Canalicnlatas) and smooth 

 (Pyrulus Canaliculatas) conches are distributi'il throughout the heap. The larger 



