2 
space about 10 feet in diameter, was re-excavated by the writer in 1914; 
but only a single tooth and a fragment of the upper end of a left femur 
were found. No other ancient graves are known here or elsewhere in 
Nova Scotia, although there exists on Big island an Indian burial-place, 
said to have been consecrated by the Roman Catholic Church, which 
belongs to the period of French settlement. 
The shell-heaps are presumably relics of Micmac Indians, since Mic- 
macs formerly lived on the harbour, apparently at several places where 
shell-heaps are now found. Patterson (b, page 27) 1 states: 
“Their [the Micmacs] principal place of encampment was at the foot of Barney 
river, on the east side, where they had, when the English settlers arrived, some clearings 
on which they raised a little Indian corn and a few beans. Other places, such as Big 
island, some of the smaller islands in the harbour, and some of the points on the shore, 
were also sites of their encampments, as may still be seen by the quantities of shells of 
oysters and other shell-fish found on the land, and the stone hatchets and arrow heads 
still occasionally picked up. Their burying ground, when the English settled, and for 
how long previous we know not, was near the west end of Big island on the south side, 
a short distance east of Savage point. This they used till about” [1837]. 
The harbour and vicinity, when visited by the whites, was inhabited 
by Micmac Indians. This tribe belongs to the Algonkian linguistic stock 
which, when first historically known, occupied one of the largest areas in 
North America, including all of the Maritime Provinces and the New 
England States. Micmac Indians still live on Indian island, fish, and 
make baskets on and about the harbour, and even collect from the shell- 
heaps archaeological objects which they sell to tourists. 
The majority of the remains known to belong to the shell-heaps are 
certainly prehistoric, but nothing indicates that they are very old. No 
objects clearly belonging to the shell-heaps had been obtained from the 
whites — no iron or steel axes, tomahawks, spearheads or knives, brass 
kettles, metal pipes, or glass beads. On top of shell-heap A (Figure 1) 
some modern things, such as bottles, bones of pigs, nails, bits of chain, 
and cold chisels were found, but they were evidently left on the heap 
recently and had been ploughed under or deposited over the shell-heap 
when the rock was cleared for quarrying. A coin found on the beach in 
front of the little heap I may have been lost by the Indians who left the 
heap, and who may have inhabited the place until after white men came. 
However, this heap was so shallow that it is uncertain whether objects 
found in it were not left by modern Micmac Indians, who are known to 
have camped along the beach within the last two or three years. Some 
links of iron chain were found in the shallow heap P, but there was nothing 
to indicate their origin, although a long, barbed arrow point with the tang 
missing, chipped from mottled grey and pink chert, was also found among 
the shells. Families who have lived in the neighbourhood for several 
generations have no knowledge or traditions of anyone having inhabited 
the shell-heap sites, or of any burial in the prehistoric cemetery ; but, 
according to Patterson (d, Catalogue No. 218), articles showing occupancy 
after the arrival of Europeans were found on the Millar farm, which may 
mean in heap 0. Piers (a, page 111) states that no palaeolithic or very 
old objects made by man have yet been found anywhere in the province. 
1 References of this kind here and on following pages are to Bibliography, page 5. 
