Midden Mounds
A midden mound is another type of "mound" frequently found
where American Indians once lived. Unlike ceremonial mounds,
midden mounds were not purposely constructed for a specific
use, but rather were created by the accumulation of trash. In
other words, a midden mound is a trash dump.
The materials found in middens are often representative of daily
domestic activities, such as broken tools associated with food
preparation or the bones of animals that had been previously
eaten. In the photograph below you can see some of the artifacts
that have been excavated from midden areas at Pocahontas.
A number of midden areas have been identified during excavations
at the Pocahontas site. The most prominent area includes the
mounded area to your left. Other areas that have been identified
as midden were destroyed by the construction of the northbound
lanes of Highway 49.
A Midden's Worth
For archaeologists, midden areas are very important parts of
archaeological sites. Not only do they contain artifacts that can tell
us about the daily activities of the site's inhabitants, but they also
do an excellent job of preserving evidence for the types of food that
people ate. The remains of charred plants, animal bone,
and
mussel shell are often well preserved in midden areas due to the
low acidity of the midden soils. The decomposition of large
amounts of organic materials introduces high levels of phosphates
into the midden soils. High phosphate levels act to reduce soil
acidity, which allows for greater preservation of fragile organic
materials.
Sheet Midden
Another type of midden found at American Indian sites is referred
to as a "sheet" midden. Like a midden mound, a sheet midden is
also composed of dark, organically enriched soil that results from
the deposition and decomposition of large amounts of organic
materials, such as animal bones or plant remains.
A sheet midden, however, is not mounded. It is a single layer of
soil that sometimes covers a very large area, and is often located
where an American Indian village once stood. Sheet middens
were formed by the trash that incidentally accumulated in and
around the village houses.
A midden mound is created by the concentrated accumulation of
trash in a relatively small area, and a sheet midden is created by
the wide distribution of trash over a larger area.
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