Ancient shell heaps near New York City

Bibliographic Data

ID23545009
AuthorsM R Harrington (Museum of the Earth, corresponding author)
Year1909
Publication date1909-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
Publisher[nd] (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5479/sil.922712.39088015046576
OpenAlexW2501362968
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Of all the traces left by the aborigines along the New York seacoast, the most abundant and familiar are the shell heapsthe beds of refuse marking the sites of ancient villages, camps and isolated wigwams.Wherever the fresh water joins the salt and especially where open water for fishing, a creek with its clam beds, and a spring for drinking come together in happy combination, there is generally to be found some such evidence of Indian occupation, unless, as is often the case, settlement and improvement have buried deep the shells or carted them away.The typical shell heap is not a "heap" at all, for leaf mold, the wash from neighboring high ground and often cultivation have made it level with its surroundings (Fig. 27).Very often, unless the land be plowed, no shells whatever show on the surface, and the only way of finding out the conditions T>,t "P't Askbe d.

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Civil engineering · Geography · Shell (structure) · American Environmental and Regional History · Engineering · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

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