226 



PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



" Careful examination has disclosed the fact that shell-heaps, or kitchen- 

 middens, of greater or less extent abound upon the banks or shores of nearly 

 every body of water or swamp indenting or dotting Long Island. 



" Different authors have at various times mentioned these shell-heaps, yet 

 without attempting any description, probably for the reason that no thorough 

 examination of these deposits had been made at the time they wrote. Prime 

 speaks of 'the immense shell-banks on the shores of Long Island';* Gardiner 

 of the ' many places whitened with the shells of clams around Gardiner's Bay 

 and Three Mile Harbor.'f 



" The shell-heaps found on that part of Long Island which lies between 

 Montauk Point and Canoe Place are more extensive and numerous, and have 

 been more carefully examined than others ; but as they do not differ materially, 

 a description of a few of these will suffice for the rest. To show how numerous 

 these deposits are, the writer would state that he has located more than twenty- 

 five separate shell-heaps within a radius of two miles from Sag Harbor. 



" These heaps consist of the shells of oysters, soft and hard-shell clams, 

 scallops, periwinkles, and mussels, mingled with ashes, charcoal, bones of mam- 

 mals, birds, and fishes, stone and bone implements, fragments of pottery, and 

 other refuse that would naturally accumulate in and around the dwelling of a 

 savage. West of the Otter Pond at Sag Harbor is a large heap, covering nearly 

 three acres. On its surface have been found hundreds of stone arrow-points and 

 other implements. A part of the deposit is still hidden under the leaves and soil 

 of the woods, and has never been disturbed. Along the cove beyond, for a 

 distance of about a mile and a half, is one almost continuous shell-heap. Back 

 on the southern slopes of the hills, near swamps and springs, are others, some 

 being an acre in area. At Payne's Creek is one of the largest and most compact 

 shell-heaps on this part of Long Island. At the time the shells were accumu- 

 lating, the creek evidently flowed in front of the deposit, but now it is filled up, 

 and a sandy country-road extends along its front. This deposit covers about 

 three acres, and is fully four feet in depth. There have been found in it bones 

 o/ the raccoon, bear, otter, fox, deer, and rabbit, a great variety of stone imple- 

 ments, bone awls, and a large fish-hook of bone.J This shell-heap is being 

 rapidly destroyed by the march of improvement, and will soon disappear. 



"About a mile from this shell-heap, on Little Hog-Neck, facing the narrows 

 and cove, is a good-sized shell-heap, covered by alluvium. It has been ploughed 

 over many years ; but the deposit underneath has not been disturbed to any 



* History of Long Island. 

 f Chronicles of East Hampton, Long Island. 

 J Figured on p. 127. 



Almost the same description of the shell-heaps near Otter Pond and Payne's Creek was furnished by Mr. 

 Tooker to Dr. Abbott, who has published it on p. 489-40 of " Primitive Industry." 



