kitchen-midden
(ˈkɪtʃɪnˌmɪd(ə)n)
[A transl. of Da. kjökken- or kökkenmödding: see kitchen and midden, dung-hill, refuse-heap.]
A refuse-heap of prehistoric date, consisting chiefly of the shells of edible molluscs and bones of animals, among which are often found stone implements and other relics of early man. Also fig. and attrib.
Such mounds are especially characteristic of the Danish coast, and were first brought into scientific notice by Danish archæologists, but they are also found in many other parts of the world.
| [1862 Latham Channel Isl. iii. xviii. (ed. 2) 415 Just as in the Danish kjokkemiddings whole heaps of shells of the edible mollusca have been preserved.] 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man xix. 372 The old refuse-heaps, or ‘kitchen-middens’. 1877 Dawson Orig. World xiv. 311 The accumulation of kitchen-midden stuff in the course of the occupancy of caverns. 1883 Contemp. Rev. June 788 The mental kitchen middens of generations of savages. |