564 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS 
deer, elk, and beaver, but no implements of any kind. 
Stone implements have, however, been found by those 
who have cultivated the soil of this neighborhood. 
A more complete examination was made of a second 
deposit on one of two small islands, neither of which are 
named, about a mile west of the place just mentioned.* 
This heap is seen on a bank, at a height of about six feet 
above the high-water mark, varies in thickness from a few 
inches to about three feet, and extends along the shore 
about two hundred and fifty feet, and from thirty to forty 
feet inland. A section through the heap at its thickest 
part showed that it belonged to two different periods, in- 
dicated by two distinct layers of shells. The lowest, a 
foot in thickness, consisted of the shells of the clam, 
whelk, and mussel, all much decomposed, and mixed with 
earth. Above this was a layer of dark vegetable mould, 
mixed with earth and gravel, and from six to eight inches 
in thickness. Above this was a second layer of shells, of 
the same species as those just mentioned, but in a much 
better state of preservation, and with less intermixture of 
earth; this deposit was in turn covered by another layer 
of earth and mould, and these now sustain a growth of 
forest trees, but none of them of large size. From the 
state of things just described, it would seem that the 
place had been reoccupied, after having been once aban- 
doned long enough for a vegetable mould to be formed, 
and a layer of earth from some neighboring source to be 
deposited over it. Charcoal was found in. considerable 
quantity, scattered among the shells, and the remains of 
an old fireplace were uncovered. The bones of animals, 
and the various kinds of implements (Pl. 14, figs. 3. 4 
oe ee 
EEO En OE ee 
‘The two heaps were examined in company with Dr. Calvin Ellis, Messrs. John 
L- Hayes, William A. Hayes, and R. E. Fitz, to whom the writer is indebted for 
aluable specimens found by them. = ` 
