terramara

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Any stratum or deposit of earthy material containing organic or mineral matter (such as bones or phosphates) in sufficient quantity to furnish a valuable fertilizer; hence, a deposit containing prehistoric remains, as fragments of bones and pottery, cinders, etc., of similar character to the deposits called in northern Europe kitchen-middens. There are large numbers of these terramare on the plain traversed by the Via Emilia between the Po and the Apennines; some of them are intermediate in character between the kitchen-middens of Denmark and the palafittes of Switzerland, appearing to mark sites of settlements originally built on piles in shallow lakes (or perhaps on marshy ground subject to frequent inundation), which have gradually become desiccated while the stations continued to be occupied.