586 
early part of the present century. Its start 
was more the result of accident than design. 
The King of Denmark provided, in 1806, 
for a scientific investigation of his country, 
corresponding in some degrees with the ag- 
gregate duties with what in our country are 
the Geological Survey, the Natural History 
Division of our National Museum and De- 
partment of Agriculture, and the Bureau of 
Ethnology. 
Dolmes. 
Almost the first obstacle the Committee 
met, and which, being unable to explain, 
caused it to put on its studying cap and led 
to an extensive discussion, was a dolmen, 
one of the common and now well-known 
prehistoric burial places. Associated with 
the discovery were the stone hatchets, 
both polished and chipped for polishing, 
also now so well known. The studies of 
the historian and archeologist failed utterly 
in assigning any of these to any period or 
people known in historic times. The an- 
cient Sagas were studied in detail, but never 
developed an age of culture, wherein axes 
other than those of iron were used. As the 
Commission’s investigations were extended, 
the number of these objects, both dolmens 
and axes, were increased, and other imple- 
ments were added to the list. 
Denmark kept the lead in her interest in 
the discoveries relating to prehistoric man, 
and in the formation of the new science 
which was to become prehistoric anthro- 
pology. 
Shell Heaps. 
Another Commission was formed, com- 
posed of Professors Forschhammer, Steen- 
strup and Worsaae, the latter of whom 
was the special representative of the Science 
of Archeology, though the other two would, 
perhaps, have been equally as great in 
archeology had they not already been cele- 
brated by their earlier work in biology and 
geology. Worsaae’s labors as an archeol- 
ogist were overshadowed by his subsequent 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. X. No. 252. 
greatness as a statesman; he became one 
of the Cabinet Ministers of the Kingdom, 
and died in office. 
The Committee continued the investiga- 
tions into the new science by the discovery 
of the shell mounds. That at Havelse was 
first and became the representative speci- 
men, but it was soon found that shell 
mounds or deposits existed along the coast 
in every direction, and what had thereto- 
fore been supposed to be the natural surface 
of the land, was really the result of human 
labor and the evidence of human occupa- 
tion. The farmers and land owners in 
their respective neighborhoods had already 
discovered that these mounds were not 
composed of the usual sand and clay, but 
mostly shells, which, in a state of great de- 
cay, were more or less mingled with black 
soil; and they had carted away much of 
the material to be distributed over the sur- 
face of their fields for enrichment. 
An investigation commenced at Havelse, 
showed not only the artificial character of 
these shell mounds, but the presence of 
many pieces of stone, principally flint, 
which had been broken in such way as to 
indicate human intervention and an adap- 
tation to human use. These objects ran 
pretty nearly the entire range of prehistoric 
implements as we now know them: ham- 
merstones, axes, hatchets, flakes, scrapers, 
arrowpoints, spearheads, knives, spindle- 
whorls, gouges, crescents, daggers, etc. 
There were also objects of shell, horn and 
bone, and many fragments of pottery. 
The more important implements from 
certain deposits were found to be of stone, 
with a piercing point or a cutting edge, 
mostly chipped into shape, though some 
had been pecked or battered and then 
ground or polished. 
In other deposits objects of different ma- 
terial were found, and among the rest the 
presence of bronze implements was de- 
tected. 
