kitchen midden

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

Origin of kitchen midden

1860–65; translation of Danish kökkenmödding

Follet lived at the ramshackle hotel, owned by the ancient Dubois and managed, from roof to kitchen-midden, by Ching Po.

The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story |Various
Midden, mid′en, n. a heap of ashes or dung (see also Kitchen-midden).

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) |Various
Whether they be remnants of an elevated sea-beach, or of some Indian ‘kitchen-midden,’ I dare not decide.

At Last |Charles Kingsley
From the kitchen-midden to the pinnacle of all that is great to-day extends a chain not a link of which is weak.

The Story of Ab |Stanley Waterloo

Sir Banas, he comes in the night and makes them all alive at the back of our kitchen-midden,' piped the child.

Kim |Rudyard Kipling

kitchen midden

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