“The heaps were almost entirely composed of the shells of the common clam, which appeared longer and rougher in texture than that now dug near by. In some of the heaps the shells of the quahog were abundant, and marked for their size and solidity. This species, though no longer found in the same cove with the heaps, may be had in the neighborhood of Goose Island, but localities in which it lives are quite rare north of Cape Cod. The common mussel, whelk, cockle, and scallop, were probably used as food, while the other species were doubtless carried there by accident. The presence of so many species of land snails would seem to indicate that the island was once covered with hard-wood trees, among which these animals alone flourish. The occurrence of the little snail, Zua lubricoides, is inconsistent with the view that it is an introduced species.”
The shells were deposited in two different layers, very much as on the island in Frenchman’s Bay already described. The older was separated from the more recent deposit by a thin stratum of earth, extending through the largest portion of the heaps. Pieces of charcoal were scattered everywhere among the shells, but in some places the larger quantity and the blackened earth showed where fires had been made. The number of the fragments of the bones of edible animals was quite large, belonging to no less than fifteen species. Besides these, many bones of other species, bone implements ([Pl. 14], figs. 1, 2; [Pl. 15], figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13), and pieces of bone from which portions had been sawed off were found; no implements of stone were exhumed, though Mr. Swan found a small pestle, and Mr. Morse a chisel lying on the surface near the shore.
IV.
A third deposit was examined at Eagle Hill, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, situated on the borders of a creek, by which easy access is had to the sea-shore. The whole neighboring region consists of a series of low hills of gravel, some of them covered with boulders, but entirely destitute of forest trees. A few basswood trees (Tilia Americana) have been known to exist there within a few years, but otherwise those hills do not appear to have been wooded within the memory or traditions of the present inhabitants. Several shell-heaps are reported to exist in the neighborhood, but the only one examined was on the easterly side of the hill mentioned above. This consists of several disconnected deposits of shells, which are in part spread out into a uniform layer, but in a few instances form small knolls from eight to ten feet in diameter. Near the water’s edge the shells are exposed by the washing away of the bank, but elsewhere are covered with mould and turf, and, in some places, even on the knolls, with a layer of gravel. In the more even portions, this last may have been washed down from the slopes above, but such could not have been the case with the knolls, for the tendency would have been to denudation rather than to covering up. The shells, forming these deposits, are almost exclusively those of the common clam, which are still found here in great quantities, and yield a considerable revenue to those engaged in digging them. Large piles of recently dug shells may be seen along the neighboring shore, and noticeably contrast with those from the Indian shell-heaps, in being thinner and less rough in their texture. Shells of the oyster and the Mactra were found, but few in number. Somewhat extensive excavations[7] yielded bones of the deer, beaver, dog, birds, among these the bones of the turkey, and of fish; but only a single implement of stone, which was spherical in shape, with a groove around the middle of it. This was found by Mr. Putnam just beneath the surface. Some of the bones showed distinct marks of cutting instruments, and a few pieces of wrought bone were found, three of which are represented in [Pl. 15], figs. 15, 16, 17. Two distinct fireplaces, indicated by hard-wood charcoal, ashes and blackened earth, were discovered resting on the earth and beneath the shells.
V.
In the town of Salisbury, Massachusetts, a series of heaps thirteen in all, quite near together, consisted exclusively of the shell of the clam. They are about a mile from the left bank of the Merrimack River, near its mouth, and surrounded by a series of sand-downs, some wooded, others naked; these last constantly changing from the action of the wind. They vary in size from about twenty to more than one hundred feet in diameter, but the shells form a layer of only a few inches, and are largely mixed with sand. After a careful search, in company with Mr. Alfred Osgood, of Newburyport, we failed to find in most of them any of the works of man, except only a few flakes or “chips” of flint; but on two, both near together, large quantities of chips were scattered over the surface, and more than five pounds were picked up. Besides these, several arrow-heads and fragments of pots, made of burned clay mixed with coarse sand, were found. No bones of animals, which might have served for food, were noticed, though carefully looked for. In previous years, large numbers of stone implements of various kinds have been carried away; but as the place is in the neighborhood of a large town, and is frequently visited by those in search of such relics, they are now nearly exhausted.
VI.
Cotuit Port is in the town of Barnstable, on the south side of Cape Cod, and on the northern shore of a narrow bay. It is quite near to the sea, but protected from it by a narrow spit of land, which forms a natural breakwater across the bay at its mouth. Within the distance of a few miles, a large number of shell-heaps are met with, and have been estimated to cover hundreds of acres, sometimes having a thickness of between one and two feet, and at others of only a few inches. Oysters were formerly found in the bay in much larger quantities than at present, and doubtless formed one of the chief attractions which drew the Indians to this place. Our examinations were confined chiefly to one of the larger deposits, about a mile to the eastward of the village, situated on a sloping surface with a pleasant southerly exposure. Excavations by four persons during a whole day were made near the shore, and at various points inland, and brought to light the shells of the oyster, clam, scallop, and quahog, in large numbers, but quite unequally distributed; the clam being plentiful in some places, the quahog in others, and the scallop in others, while the oyster abounded everywhere.
Two species of Pyrula, viz.: P. carica and P. canaliculata were found, the first in considerable numbers. Neither of these species was found in any of the other heaps. Dr. Gould states that they are not known to exist north of Cape Cod. The largest specimen of the P. carica was about seven inches in length, a portion of the spire having been broken off, and this, according to Dr. Gould, is their maximum size on the Coast of Massachusetts. It is, however, in remarkable contrast with a shell of the same species from one of the shell-heaps in Florida, which measured nearly fourteen inches in length.
Of the remains of vertebrates, the bones of the deer were the most abundant; but those of the seal, the fox, the mink, of birds, including those of a duck and the wild turkey, of turtle and of fish were found. During a former examination of this locality by Mr. George G. Lowell and Dr. Algernon Coolidge, a canine of a bear and a part of the skull of a cat was obtained. No stone implements, but a few worked pieces of bone were dug up, and also some fragments from which portions had been sawed off. The tine of a deer’s antler, from which the tip had been sawed off, is represented on [Pl. 15], fig. 14. About two-thirds of the metatarsal bone of the great toe from a human foot was found, in company with the bones of the animals already mentioned, and is the only portion of the skeleton of man which we have discovered while examining the heaps here described. The writer would express his obligations to Mr. George G. Lowell for the opportunity of examining the locality at Cotuit Port, and for the gift of valuable specimens.