DISCOVERIES AT A VILLAGE OF THE STONE AGE. 11 
shells might, however, have been caused by the heap of shells 
outside the hut growing more rapidly than the debris ac- 
cumulated within it; and then on the decay of the walls of 
the hut these shells would fall in on the gravel of the sleeping 
bench. A second feature in the appearance of this founda- 
tion, which seemed to indicate a conical form to the dwelling, 
was the width between the ends of the gravelly layer of the 
sleeping-bench of hut bottom A. If this space corresponds 
to the width of the doorway it would be quite out of propor- 
tion to the size of such a dwelling, unless the doorway was 
rapidly narrowed above by the convergence of the poles sup- 
porting the sides of the hut. 
The careless habits of the old Neolithic people who dwelt 
on the shores of the Bocabec were quite noticeable, and cer- 
tainly were favorable to the spread of disease among them. I 
have said that they underlaid their sleeping banks with gravel, 
and in this practice they shewed their appreciation of the com- 
fort of a dry bed. This couch they no doubt made softer by 
covering it with boughs, and warmer by the added luxury of 
fur-skins. Nevertheless, in some respects they were exceed- 
ingly slovenly. The ashes and charcoal of their fire-places (K) 
gradually accumulated to such an extent that to level up the 
sides of their huts they brought in gravel and threw it on the 
trampled clam shells and other fragments of their feasts that 
were scattered over the floor. They were too slothful to clean 
out the smaller fragments of bone, etc., and so it happened that 
in the course of time the stones around their fire-places, which 
were used to support the firewood and the pots, were gradu- 
ally buried up, and fresh stones had to be brought in to raise 
the wood above the embers and to support the cooking vessels. 
If the occupants of a hut were careless enough to break a pot, 
it was more than probable that the fragments would be allowed 
to lie on the floor and be trampled under foot, until buried out 
of sight among the debris scattered around the fire-place. The 
bones left after dinner received much the same treatment. 
When the flesh was eaten off the leg-bones, they were broken 
up for the marrow they contained, and, with the smaller 
bones, were left scattered around on the floor, or perhaps the 
