PREHISTORIC KITCHEN-MIDDENS. 135 
was sufficiently elevated to keep the waves outside, huts 
were erected over wooden platforms supported on piles, 
and as the rubbish accumulated, the process was repeated 
until the interior of the mud-ring became a solid mound. 
Some of these mounds were found to be intersected with 
marine strata, showing that occasionally the waves broke 
down the circumscribing mud-wall and made havoc of the 
interior. 
Like the Terremare of Italy, the Terpen are largely 
excavated on account of their rich ammoniacal deposits, 
which are used by agriculturists as guano. The industrial 
remains found in the course of these operations are of a 
very miscellaneous character, and give a vivid picture of 
the civilisation of their inhabitants from Roman times 
down to the twelfth century. Among the relics I noticed 
such objects as the shells of eggs (hen and goose), some of 
which were unbroken ; a flute made of the shank bone of 
an animal; Anglo-Saxon, Byzantine, and Roman coins; large 
casks, canoes, loom-weights, toilet-combs, iron bridle-bits, 
beads of glass and amber, bronze pots, pottery, etc., ete. 
V.—ANCIENT KITCHEN-MIDDEN NEAR ELIE, FIFE. 
While wandering one day early in the summer of last 
year on St Ford Links, some 2 miles to the west of Elie, 
I discovered the edge of a bed of dark earthy matter, con- 
taining decayed bones of various animals, which extended 
beneath a grassy knoll composed of blown sands. Upon 
removing the superincumbent sand with the assistance of a 
number of workmen supplied by the proprietor, W. Baird, 
Esq., it was ascertained that the underlying stuff was a 
veritable kitchen-midden, in which not only food-refuse, but 
other relics of man, were discovered. No structural remains 
of any kind were found in connection with the débris, 
although the circumstances unmistakably pointed to human 
occupancy of some duration. The midden measured about 
16 yards in length and 11 yards in breadth, with an average 
thickness of 2 feet. It lay over fine sand within the area 
of the 25-feet raised beach, and its distance from Shell Bay, 
