4 
REFUSE HEAPS OR DEPOSITS 
There were twenty-four refuse heaps or deposits, nearly all being more 
or less oval, and composed of refuse and ashes containing artifiacts and 
animal bones. Those on the steep slopes and on the edge of the swamp were 
probably piles of materia] intentionally thrown out of the way, whereas 
those on the more level parts of the site are shallow and probably 
accumulated unintentionally in front of doors, around lodges, and near 
fireplaces; there is no absolute criterion for identifying each. The fact 
that in very few of those examined was there found any perceptible burning 
of the basic soil suggests the random scattering of refuse rather than its 
heaping on top of permanent fireplaces. Then, too, where the ashes and 
refuse were in stratified layers, no burnt sand occurred below the layers, 
which would seem to indicate that the ashes were not formed in situ by a 
fire, but were scraped or otherwise brought hither from fireplaces, and in 
some cases spread evenly. Some of the deposits, however, may have been 
created by not removing the debris of the house floor. 
Guest refers to four of the refuse heaps as tumuli, which he says were 
“ situate at the corners of a parallelogram, containing between one and 
two acres of ground ” (page 273). They were “ but slightly raised above 
the general level — say from two to four feet” ( See Figure 1). 
Most of the deposits examined were stratified, some being composed of 
as many as four and five intercalated layers of ashes and refuse, the ashes 
in some cases interspersed with streaks and pockets of sand and black 
refuse. On the bottom there w r as usually a thin layer of carbonaceous 
matter, which, except where there were burials, rested on the undisturbed 
sand below. The upper surface of this sand had been whitened, perhaps 
by the action of the potash salts in the ashes. 
Artifacts were found in all layers of the deposits, but very few in 
the ashes and those usually burnt. 
Deposit 1, in the southeast corner, where the western slope of the hill 
is about 45 degrees, and the eastern more gradual, was about 95 feet long 
by 50 feet wide, some of the refuse extending even to the spring below; 
evidently it was much spread by ploughing. The maximum depth was 4 
feet. Only a small portion had been disturbed by people digging for 
specimens. A large number of specimens and thirty-nine human skeletons, 
as shown on Map 1600, were found in and around the deposit. 
The spring south of this heap contained refuse, which probably came 
from the deposit. In the layer of soggy, black muck at the top, which was 
about 18 inches deep, were branches of trees, bark, etc.; below this was a 
layer of sand nearly 4 inches deep, which rested on a layer of black material 
like peat, perhaps corresponding to the layer of carbonaceous matter in the 
refuse deposits. In this bottom layer were pieces of cut and burnt wood, 
pottery fragments, and animal bones, but no ashes. The muck layer 
produced the most artifacts; in it were preserved squash seeds that retained 
their natural yellowish colour, a hazel nut, not carbonized, and a wooden 
disk with a hole through the middle. 
Deposit 2 covered most of the slope on the east side of the hill. It 
was about 85 feet north and south, by about 45 feet east and west, with a 
maximum depth of about 30 inches. It, also, was much spread and reduced 
in height by many years of ploughing, yet the middle — possibly the original 
