678 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



SECTION OF SHELL-HEAP. 



Six inche.s of modern soil. 



(Later stage.) 



Fine thin pottery lieautii'ully orna- 

 mented. Neatly-niade implements of 

 bone, shell, etc. Axes, arrow and 

 sjiear heads of stone ; also stone- 

 beads and objects of stone used in 

 games. 



Three feet. 



tions of their owners. I have never known a whole vessel to be fonud iii 

 a shell-heap. An examination of this pottery, then, it seems wonld give 



us a pretty correct idea of the progress of 

 the aborigines in the art of pottery during 

 a period of time corresponding with that of 

 the age of the shell-heaps. An inquiry 

 therefore into this progress among the 

 builders of the shell-heaps necessarily in- 

 volves a question of time, and is by far the 

 most dilBcult part of the subject. 



In the section of the shell-heap given in 

 the illustration, it will be seen that a 

 stratum of soil six inches in thickness has 

 accumulated since the completion of the 

 mound, and that a similar stratum nearly 

 two feet in thickness occupies a position 

 near the center of the mass, indicating a 

 cessation in the growth of the heap, when 

 it had reached a height of sev^en feet, for 

 a period of time sufficient for the accumu- 

 lation of this two feet of soil on the sur- 

 face of the shell. After this the accumula- 



Two fret of soil containing a few 

 fragments of pottery. 



(Middle stage.) 



Better pottery, rudely ornamented. 

 Primitive implements of bone and 

 shell. 



Four feet. 



(Earlier stage.) 



Rude, heavy pottery, destitute of 

 ornament. 



Three feet. 



tion of shell begins again, and w^hen it had 

 acquired a depth of three feet it ceased 

 again and this tiine forever. 



Kow, we know pretty well how long a 

 period has elapsed since the aborigines 

 ceased to inhabit this region, and although 

 it, is possible that there has been no addi- 

 tion to this heaj) for seventy-tive or one 

 hundred years, we know positively tliat 

 there has been none for the last tifty years. 

 It requires then at least fifty years to ac- 

 cumulate six inches of soil on a shell-heap, 

 and consequently we may be justified in 

 sup[>osing a period of two hundred years 

 to have been necessary for the formation 

 of the central stratum of soil in this mound. 

 A comparison of the pottery immediately 

 above and below this stratum of soil repre- 

 senting a period of two hundred years 

 ought to give us some idea of the rate of 

 progression made in the arts. And a criti- 

 cal comparison of tlie different styles of 

 pottery with each other in different portions of the heap should give 

 us a rude idea of the age of the shell-heaps. The object of the present 



