CHAP. xvii. HUMAN BONES. 363 



M. Engelhardt, in describing the Kiokkenmod- 

 dings of Denmark, says that no human bones have 

 been found among the shell-heaps. Sir John Lun- 

 bock has also said that " the absence of human re- 

 mains satisfactorily proves that the primitive popu- 

 lation of the North were free from the practice of 

 cannibalism." Eecent investigations have, however, 

 cast some doubts upon this statement. For in- 

 stance, Mr. Laing, M.P., read a paper before the Eth- 

 nological Society on the 14th December 1864, in 

 which he described the results of his investigations 

 of the kitchen-middens at Keiss in Caithness, about 

 eight miles north of Wick. Large masses of peri- 

 winkle and limpet shells, mixed with bones, flint 

 splinters, and bone instruments of the rudest sort, 

 were found. Among the bones, part of the jaw of a 

 child was discovered, which had been broken as if 

 to get at the marrow ; and affording ground for pre- 

 sumption that cannibalism was prevalent, or, at least, 

 was occasionally resorted to among the race to which 

 the remains refer. 



No human bones were found in the shell-heaps of 

 either Boyndie or Brigzes ; so that Mr. Laing's re- 

 marks may, after all, prove to be a mere conjecture. 

 " One thing," says Edward, " must be observed that 

 no implements have as yet been found mixed up with 

 our shells ; but whether this would indicate an earlier 

 or a later date, it would be premature even to hint. 

 Flint flakes, a portion of a flint knife, and a stone-axe 



