Primitive Man

by Louis Figuier

The first idea formed with regard to these kitchen-middens was that they were nothing but banks of fossil shells, beds which had formerly been submerged, and subsequently brought to light by an upheaval of the earth caused by some volcanic cause. But M. Steenstrup, a Danish savant, opposed this opinion, basing his contradiction on the fact that these shells belong to four different species which are never found together, and consequently they must have been brought together by man. M. Steenstrup also called attention to the fact that almost all these shells must have belonged to full-grown animals, and that there were hardly any young ones to be found amongst them. A peculiarity of this kind is an evident indication of the exercise of some rational purpose, in fact, of an act of the human will.

When all the débris and relics which we have enumerated were discovered in these kitchen-middens, when the remains of hearths—small spots which still retained traces of fire—were found in them, the origin of these heaps were readily conjectured. Tribes once existed there who subsisted on the products of fishing and hunting, and threw out round their cabins the remains of their meals, consisting especially of the débris of shell-fish. These remains gradually accumulated, and constituted the considerable heaps which we are discussing; hence the name of kjoekken-moedding, composed of two words—kjoekken, kitchen; and moedding, heap of refuse. These "kitchen-middens," as they are called, are, therefore, the refuse from the meals of the primitive population of Denmark.

If we consider the heaps of oyster-shells and other débris which accumulate in the neighbourhood of eating-houses in certain districts, we may readily understand, comparing great things with small, how these Danish kitchen-middens were produced. I myself well recollect having noticed in the environs of Montpellier small hillocks of a similar character, formed by the accumulation of oyster-shells, mussels, and clams.

When the conviction was once arrived at that these kitchen-middens were the refuse of the meals of the primitive inhabitants, the careful excavation of all these heaps scattered along the Danish coast became an extremely interesting operation. It might be justly expected that some data would be collected as to the customs and manufactures of the ancient dwellers in these countries. A commission was, in consequence, appointed by the Danish Government to examine these deposits, and to publish the results of its labours.

This commission was composed of three savants, each of whom were eminent in their respective line—Steenstrup, the naturalist, Forchhammer, a geologist, and the archæologist, Worsaae—and performed its task with as much talent as zeal. The observations which were made are recorded in three reports presented to the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen. From these documents are borrowed most of the details which follow.

Before proceeding to acquaint our readers with the facts brought to light by the Danish commission, it will be well to remark that Denmark does not stand alone in possessing these kitchen-middens. They have been discovered in England—in Cornwall and Devonshire—in Scotland, and even in France, near Hyères (Bouches-du-Rhône).[18]

MM. Sauvage and Hamy have pointed out to M. de Mortillet the existence of deposits of this kind in the Pas-de-Calais. They may be noticed, say these naturalists, at La Salle (Commune of Outreau) at certain parts of the coast of Portel, and especially a very large heap at Cronquelets (Commune of Etaples.) They chiefly consist of the cardium edule, which appear to abound in the kitchen-middens of the Pas-de-Calais.

Messrs. Evans, Prestwich, and Lubbock observed one of these deposits at Saint-Valery, near the mouth of the Somme. Added to this, they have been described by various travellers as existing in different parts of the world. Dampier studied them in Australia, and Darwin in Tierra del Fuego, where deposits of the same character are now in the course of formation. M. Pereira da Costa found one on the coast of Portugal; Sir C. Lyell has testified to the existence of others on the coasts of Massachusetts and Georgia, in the United States; M. Strobel, on the coasts of Brazil. But those in Denmark are the only deposits of this kind which have been the subject of investigations of a deliberate and serious character.

Almost all these kitchen-middens are found on the coast, along the fiords, where the action of the waves is not much felt. Some have, however, been found several miles inland; but this must be owing to the fact that the sea once occupied these localities, from which it has subsequently retired. They are not to be met with on some of the Danish coasts, as those of the western side; this, on the one hand, may be caused by their having been washed away by the sea, which has there encroached on the land, or, on the other hand, by the fact that the western coast was much less sheltered than the other parts of the Danish peninsula. They are not unfrequently to be found in the adjacent islands.