GREAT SHELL HEAPS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 76 (Supplement)

GREAT SHELL HEAPS

MYSTERY. MAY BE T'HE RELIC'S OF PREHISTORIC PEOPLE. BEDS OF ASHES AND SMOKE MARK ED STON ES. The Indian shell heaps of California have ever been a source of wondei i'liey are 10 be found from one end of the State to the other, wherever a beach gave the savages an opportunity to gather the vivalve. . The origin of these mounds is hid m mystery and little effort has ever been made to fathom it. Paul Schumacher, of the Smithsonian Institution, published a brief account of his investigations of a mound in San Lins Obispo county in 18i4, since wmch time no other article worthy of note on the subject has appeared. The 1 University cf California has m preparation a pamphlet on the result of investigations or the shell mouncs of Berkeley and Shell Mound. Marin county is dotted with these heaps They are to be found near Sausal’ito, Mill Valley, Certe Madera, Ross. San Rafael and Novato. Varying slightly in size, they are luentical m form and structural elements. The mound near Mill A alley is oblong being approximately four liundied feet long by three hundred feet wide and about twenty feet high, One mcuncl near Alto is somewhat longer and not so high. This one has a waggon rO-ad cut transversely through its middie. ~ Concerning the purposes or these mounds questions naturally arise:— Were they of a ceremonial character r Were they burial mounds? Or were they simply the result of casting lubbish m the same place for ages? The mounds are composed almost entirely of shells. Clam shells, mussel shells and oyster shells, with barnacles here and there, make up most of the body. With few exceptions all the shells appear to have tieen opened. Interspersed throughout are the bones of human beings, animals, birds and fish. At the bottom the shells are disintegrated, testifying to theii great antiquity. As the top is approached the shells beconle more firm and sound until, at the very surface, they are almost perfect.

The creation of these mounds must have required generations, if not centtines, 'W hatever thoir pm pose, they were evidently the result of seasonal or temporary operations, for layers of earth recur at short intervals in _ the strata of shells. This would indicate that the Indians dwelt in the neigh - bourhoood of the mounds at certain seasons of the year, probably during the winter, when food other than shellfish was scarce. During their residence elsewhere the winds would drive the sand and earth over the shells. Careful examination seems to indicate that these deposits are the result of tribal ceremonial feasts. Were they not the result of concerted tribal action one would naturally expect to find a multitude of small heaps, but such is not the case. The California Indian was never noted, for his sense of neatness, nor his observances of sanitary rules, and his laziness was such that he would not carry his kitchen refuse far from his fireside, let alone to the top of a mound, even to relieve himself of offensive odours. Examination of a transverse section of one of these mounds discloses well defined beds of ashes, three to twelve inches in depth. Underneath them is usually found a base of burned and smoke marked stones. This goes to show that the shellfish, animals and birds were cooked, eaten and the refuse was dropped on the spot. The recurrence of beds of ashes in each stratum of shell shows that the feasts were held whenever tiie tribe gathered in the vicinity. It is reasonable, then, to suppose that the holding of these feasts on the isame spot year after year, until the surface was raised fifteen or twenty feet above the level of the earth, could only have been in accordance with some ceremonial observance. Why human remains are found among the shells and other hones is hard to tell. The Indians of California venerated their dead and funeial momes were carefully cariied out. lhey burned their dead or carefully buried tneni. In either case tlie personal effects —bow, arrows and ornaments were laid with the body. None of the human bones found in the shell mounds aro charred or marked by fire, hence the mounds could not have been funeral pyres. Those skeletons found are sometimes scattered, and no trinkets or implements surround them, shoving that they were not carefully buried.