kitchen midden

American  

noun

1. a mound consisting of shells of edible mollusks and other refuse, marking the site of a prehistoric human habitation.

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kitchen midden British  

noun

1. archaeol the site of a large mound of domestic refuse marking a prehistoric settlement: usually including bones, potsherds, seashells, etc

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Etymology

Origin of kitchen midden

1860–65; translation of Danish kökkenmödding

Example Sentences

“The Oral History is a great hodgepodge and kitchen midden of hearsay,” Joseph Mitchell reported in his first piece about Gould, published in The New Yorker in 1942.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 27, 2015

"There they lay, slowly accumulating; a kind of kitchen midden."

From Time Magazine Archive

Since then, Hubbs has rummaged through many ancient heaps of kitchen midden and found many shells of creatures that do not live there any more.

From Time Magazine Archive

Any archaeologist knows that nothing gives a better picture of how vanished civilizations lived, loved and fought than the utensils, ornaments and weapons that were left behind in successive layers of kitchen midden.

From Time Magazine Archive

Time passed, the kitchen midden grew, and the Cymri founded Ailcluith, “Clyde rock,” now Dumbarton; “to this day,” says Bede, “the strongest city of the Britons.”

From The Clyde Mystery a Study in Forgeries and Folklore by Lang, Andrew