524 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



is a shell heap ?' It is simply the refuse pile of a village, or family, of a large or 

 small number of people living for a time at one place. Kitchen-midding is one 

 name which has been given to such deposits, and they have received the com- 

 mon term of 'shell heaps' in this country, simply from the fact that the many and 

 often immense banks of shells which occur along our coasts and on our river 

 sides were known as shell heaps or shell banks long before it was known that 

 they were formed by the hand of man. The specimens in the trays which I have 

 passed about were taken from three parts of a large shell heap at Keene's Point 

 on Muscongus Sound. 



"This heap is four or five feet thick on the water edge, and extends several 

 hundred feet along the shore and a hundred feet inland. In the upper part of 

 the heap, just under the sod, the shells are much broken ; in the central portion 

 they are often reduced to a fine powder, and mixed with the ashes found through- 

 out the heap ; in the lower part the valves of the shells are often whole, and are 

 filled with the soil upon which they fell when the refuse pile was started from the 

 material thrown aside by the first inhabitants of the place. In this next tray are 

 perfect valves of the common clam (Genus Mya), which enters most largely into- 

 the formation of the heap, of the quahaug {Ve?ius), of the scallop {Fectetj)^ of the 

 whelk {Buccinuni), and of the cockle [Natica). The bivalves were, probably, 

 commonly opened by roasting, after which the animal was eaten and the shells 

 tossed aside, so that you will seldom find together the two valves belonging to 

 the same shell. Some valves of the quahaug and also the shells of the whelk and 

 the cockle have been found broken as if by a hammer before cooking. 



"In addition to the shells, bones of animals were obtained in great num- 

 ber. Most of these are broken into small pieces, probably for the double purpose 

 of getting at the marrow and of reducing them to a size adapted to the ordinary 

 cooking pot. Although the bones of mammals were more often those of the 

 moose, deer, bear, wolf, fox and beaver, yet there were also found bones of the 

 otter, skunk, fishes, coon, woodchuck, seal and porpoise. Bones of several spe. 

 cies of birds occurred, also some bones of the turtle, while fishes were represent- 

 ed by the cod, flounder and great goose fish, giving with the moUusks quite an 

 extended bill of fare. The bones and shells were broken with hammer-stones,. 

 which are found scattered through the heap. These stones were probably picked 

 up on the seashore and kept about the house or near the fire so as to be handy 

 for use in preparing the food. 



" Beside these rude stone hammers we find occasionally an implement so- 

 rude in character that you might think it to be a stone picked up at random on 

 the shore, but on looking more carefully you will see that it is chipped, with the 

 evident intention of forming a pointed implement with a cutting edge. I will pass 

 about a tray containing other tools and chips of stone, which, though generally 

 known as arrow points, I am inclined to believe to be rude knives, which were 

 probably set in wooden handles. These little circular pieces of stone, you will 

 see, have had from twenty to thirty little chips taken off the thick, rounded edge, 

 fitting it for cutting or scraping, and such implements are known as scrapers. So- 



