BULL. 30] 



SHELL-HEAPS 



541 



many of which are quite equal in beauty 

 of form and color to the living species, 

 were much prized by the Indians; they 

 served as fetishes and charms, and are 



SHELL pendants: a. NEW YORK; 6, ARIZONA (1-2) 



found on altars or shrines and in the kits 

 of medicine-men. Some varieties of shell, 

 especially those derived from the sea, ap- 

 pear to have had special .significance with 



Shell Pendants; Californ 



Shell Pendants with Engraved Designs [a, Oiam. 4 ^A In.; 

 b, Tennessee, l-e) 



the tribes of the far interior. They were 

 buried with the dead, or were sacrificed 

 on altars and before shrines. Beads and 

 other ornaments of shell, and like forms 

 made in imita- 

 tion of shell, 

 were manufac- 

 tured for trade 

 by the whites, 

 and are still in 

 c o m m o n use 

 by the tribes of 

 the farthest 

 inland. (See 

 Beads, Peag, 

 Roanoke, Runtee, Seivan, Wampum.) 



Consult Ann. Archjeol. Reps. Ontario, 

 1888-1907; Beauchamp in Bull. N. Y. 

 State Mus., S, no. 41; Beverlev, Virginia, 

 1705; Dixon in Bull. Am. Mus! Nat. Hist., 

 XVII, pt. 3, 1905; Dunning quoted by Put- 

 nam in 5th Rep. Peabody Mus., 1872; 

 Fewkes(l) in 22d Rep. B. A. E., 1903, (2) 

 in Am. Anthr., ix, Nov. 1896; Fowke, 

 Archajol. Hist. Ohio, 1902: Goddard in 

 Univ. Cal. Pub., Am. Arch;eol. and 

 Ethnol., I, no. 1, 1903; Holmes in 2d 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1883; C. C. Jones, Antiq. 

 So. Inds., 1873; J. Jones in Smithson. 

 Cont. Knowl., xxii, 1876; Lavvson, 

 Hist. Carolina, 1714 ; Moore, various 

 memoirs in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. ; 

 Moorehead, Prehist. Impls., 1900; Pow- 

 ers in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., in, 1877; Put- 

 nam in Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., xxiv, 

 1890; Rau (1) in Smithson. Rep. 1874, 

 1875, (2) Archseol. Coll. Nat. Mus., 1876; 



Sapir in Am. Anthr., ix, no. 2, 1907; 

 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, 1851-54; Schu- 

 macher in Peabody Mus. Reps.; Stearns 

 in Nat. Mus. Rep. 1887, 1889; Thomas in 

 12th Rep. B. A. E., 1894; Thru.ston, Antiq. 

 of Tenn., 1897; Tooker, Algonq. Ser., iv, 

 16, 17, 25, 1901; Roger Williams in R. I. 

 Hist. Soc. Coll., I, 133, 1827; Woodward, 

 Wampum, 1878; Wvman ( 1 ) in Am. Nat, 

 II, nos. 8, 9, 1868, (2) in Mem. Peabody 

 Acad. Sci., i, no. 4, 1875; Yarrow in G. 

 and G. Surv. West of 100th Merid., vii, 

 1879. (w. H. H.) 



Shell-heaps. A term applied to de- 

 posits of refuse resulting from the con- 

 sumption of shelltish as foocl. Kindred 

 deposit^, known ordinarily as "kitchen 

 middens," accumulate on all inhabited 

 sites, and are among the most widely dis- 

 tributed and permanent remains left by 

 primitive peoples. For these reasons, and 

 because the\' necessarily contain examples 

 of almost every variety of the durable 

 handiwork of the peoples concerned in 

 theiraccumulation, they are of the highest 

 value to the student of prehistoric times. 

 The percentage of waste resulting from 

 the consumption of shelltish, such as oys- 

 ters, clams, mussels, and conchs, is very 

 great, and the accumulations on many 

 sites are so extensive as to excite the 

 wonder of those who encounter them for 

 the first time. The deposits, however, 

 are not always mere random accumula- 

 tions, for during the period of deposition, 

 and subsequently, the materials have been 

 utilized in the erection <jf mounds for resi- 

 dence and defense and as depositories for 

 the dead (see Mounds ) . Many of the most 

 notable shell-mounds are the resultof long 

 periods of gradual depositionand building, 

 during which they served alternately for 

 residence and burial, and, in the S., "per- 

 haps also as sites for temples and fortifica- 

 tions. Since theoccupaucyof thecountry 

 by the whites, the destruction of these de- 

 posits of shell has gone forward with great 

 rapidity. They have been burned for 

 lime and for fertilizer; have been used 

 in vast quantities for the building of 

 roads, as at St Augustine, Mobile, and 

 New Orlean-s, and have been leveled by 

 the plow on innumerable sites. The 

 most extensive deposits of shell refuse 

 are found along the salt-water shores, 

 and especially within tidewater bays, 

 rivers, and inlets where the clam, and 

 especially the oyster, abound, and in in- 

 land valleys where the fresh-water mol- 

 lusks, the mussel, vivipara, etc., thrive. 

 Along some of the shores they are almost 

 continuous formany miles, but, as a rule, 

 they do not extend very far back from 

 the landing places. Deposits covering 

 10 or even 20 acres are not uncom- 

 mon, but the depth is usually not great 

 save over limited areas, where they rise 

 frequently to 20 feet, and in cases to 30 



