William Wimberg age 13, of Harrisburg, Pa., for his question:

WHAT IS A KITCHEN MIDDEN?

A kitchen midden in archeology is a refuse heap left at the site of a camp or village. Such heaps often contain buried relics of industry and art, and have been found in all parts of the world.

Kitchen middens are of particular importance in investigations of cultures that left no written records or permanent architectural remains, such as the communities of the North American Indians and of Stone, Bronze and early Iron Age Europeans.

The earliest kitchen middens studied by archaelogists are in Denmark, where they were excavated in the 19th century. They were so large and ancient that they were originally thought to be natural formations.

The custom of locating camps on the abandoned refuse piles of former habitations created some middens more than 1,000 feet long and 10 feet deep along the Danish beaches. In other parts of the world, middens as deep as 100 feet have been found.