_Frenchman’s Bay._ Mount Desert is the largest of the islands on the
indented coast of Maine, and forms the western shore of Frenchman’s
Bay. Many shell-heaps are scattered over this and the adjoining islands
and the main land. Williamson,[4] without particularly designating
them, mentions the existence of several from one to two acres in
extent, and states that “a heavy growth of trees was found upon them
by the first settlers.” We have examined two. The first of these is in
Gouldsboro’, on the main land, and near the water’s edge on the eastern
shore of the bay. It is said to cover an acre of land, but being under
cultivation was examined only near its border, where a pit was sunk
showing a deposit of clamshells about two feet in thickness. Among
these were found the bones of several animals, including those of the
deer, elk, and beaver, but no implements of any kind. Stone implements
have, however, been found by those who have cultivated the soil of this
neighborhood.
A more complete examination was made of a second deposit on one of two
small islands, neither of which are named, about a mile west of the
place just mentioned.[5] This heap is seen on a bank, at a height of
about six feet above the high-water mark, varies in thickness from
a few inches to about three feet, and extends along the shore about
two hundred and fifty feet, and from thirty to forty feet inland. A
section through the heap at its thickest part showed that it belonged
to two different periods, indicated by two distinct layers of shells.
The lowest, a foot in thickness, consisted of the shells of the clam,
whelk, and mussel, all much decomposed, and mixed with earth. Above
this was a layer of dark vegetable mould, mixed with earth and gravel,
and from six to eight inches in thickness. Above this was a second
layer of shells, of the same species as those just mentioned, but in a
much better state of preservation, and with less intermixture of earth;
this deposit was in turn covered by another layer of earth and mould,
and these now sustain a growth of forest trees, but none of them of
large size. From the state of things just described, it would seem that
the place had been reoccupied, after having been once abandoned long
enough for a vegetable mould to be formed, and a layer of earth from
some neighboring source to be deposited over it. Charcoal was found in
considerable quantity, scattered among the shells, and the remains of
an old fireplace were uncovered. The bones of animals, and the various
kinds of implements (Pl. 14, figs. 3, 4, 5; Pl. 15, figs. 10, 11)
obtained during the excavations, will be described in another page.