Middens are among the most intimate of archaeological remains. They are, quite literally, the accumulated waste of daily life, most often dense accumulations of shellfish remains, animal bone, pottery, and ash, discarded meal by meal over years or centuries. Where a ringfort or a tower house announces itself with height and mass, a midden simply sits in the earth, quietly holding evidence of what people ate, how they processed food, and how long they stayed in one place.