midden
Ancient garbage pile
A midden is a heap of refuse, especially an ancient one.
Archaeologists excavate middens to study past cultures through discarded shells, bones, pottery, and other domestic waste.
The word survives mainly in technical and historical contexts: The shell midden revealed centuries of coastal habitation.
Informally, any messy accumulation might be called a midden.
Act of unearthing
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- digUnearth by shoveling
- siteDesignated location
trowel · carbon-dating · potsherds · context · survey · sieving · grid · section
Discarded waste material
- trashDiscarded worthless material
- rubbishWaste or nonsense
- detritusLoose waste from decay
- debrisScattered broken fragments
waste · discards · scraps · leavings · offal · bones · ashes · sweepings
Pile of animal waste
- manureAnimal waste as fertilizer
- compostDecayed organic fertilizer
- pileAccumulated mass of objects
- moundHeaped earth formation
dung · droppings · farmyard · accumulation · stack · fertilizer · organic · decomposition
Final prehistoric stone-tool era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- Bronze AgeEarly metalworking civilization period
- Iron AgePost-bronze historical period
- PaleolithicEarliest archaeological era
settlement · hunter-gatherers · pottery · flint · tools · burial · megaliths · tribes
Pearl-bearing edible mollusk
- musselEdible two-shelled mollusk
- clamSand-dwelling hinged shellfish
- cockleSmall ribbed bivalve
- molluskSoft-bodied invertebrate, often shelled
shellfish · coastal · shoreline · accumulation · marine · crustacean · whelk · periwinkle
Shallow excavated channel
drain · foundation · burial · enclosure · rampart · earthwork · fortification · floor
excavation
Act of unearthing
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- digUnearth by shoveling
site · trowel · carbon-dating · potsherds · context · survey · sieving · grid · section · profile
garbage
Discarded waste material
debris · waste · discards · scraps · leavings · offal · bones · ashes · sweepings · dross
dunghill
Pile of animal waste
mound · dung · droppings · farmyard · accumulation · stack · fertilizer · organic · decomposition · rotting
Neolithic
Final prehistoric stone-tool era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- Bronze AgeEarly metalworking civilization period
- Iron AgePost-bronze historical period
Paleolithic · settlement · hunter-gatherers · pottery · flint · tools · burial · megaliths · tribes · domestication
oyster
Pearl-bearing edible mollusk
mollusk · shellfish · coastal · shoreline · accumulation · marine · crustacean · whelk · periwinkle · abalone
ditch
Shallow excavated channel
well · drain · foundation · burial · enclosure · rampart · earthwork · fortification · floor · wall
sherd
Ceramic fragment from ruins
tool · bead · ornament · ceramic · fragment · relic · antler · charcoal · seed · fishbone
- filthdirt, grime, dirty, filthy, muck
- historical sanitationcesspit, cesspool, chamber pot, latrine, outhouse
- Victorian povertyworkhouse, poorhouse, tenement, slum, hovel
- waste pilesgarbage pile, trash pile, rubbish pile, garbage heap, trash heap
- Ancestral PuebloansMesa Verde, cliff dwellings, kivas, pueblo, kiva
- ancient ruinsStonehenge, Pompeii, Colosseum, coliseum, Machu Picchu
middentreasure trove
Ownerless valuables found hidden
treasury · burial site · tomb · shrine · reliquary