24 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



and 300 feet long. The bank is from 3 to 5 feet in depth on 

 the creek, but becomes more and more shallow and extended 

 laterally until it is lost in the surrounding fields. 



The southern shell-heap rests on a lower spur of the hills 

 which bound the creek. It is probably about 150 feet long, 

 100 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. These dimensions are roughly 

 estimated, as, owing to an overlying stratum of earth from 

 2 to 24 inches in thickness, accurate measurements are 

 difficult. 



Both of these banks are composed of oyster-shells, in 

 many places packed together. Although they are undoubt- 

 edly of pre-Columbian origin, there is nothing to indicate a 

 very high antiquity. From the absence of broken shells in 

 any great numbers, it seems prooable that the oysters were 

 steamed or roasted before they were removed from the shells. 



The contents of the heaps were a few bones of the turtle 

 and of the deer, rudely flaked arrow-heads, axes and celts, 

 hammer-stones, and pottery. Many of these objects also 

 occur on the surface, and seem to be more highly finished 

 than those of the shell-heaps. 



The earthenware belongs to the class known as basket- 

 pottery, and shows the meshes of the rush moulds in which 

 the vessels were formed. The fragments recovered are nearly 

 an inch in thickness, and in several instances flaked and 

 blistered by the long-continued action of fire. The orna- 

 mentation is in intaglio, and presents the endless variety of 

 curves and chevrons which we are accustomed to see on 

 ware of this class. 



The author discusses in the course of his remarks the 

 question of the disappearance and reappearance of oysters 

 in certain localities in connection with the occurrence of the 

 signs of stratification in the shell-heaps. 



