| 释义 |
‖ mirrnyong Austral.|ˈmɜːnjɒŋ|
Also mirnyong.
[Native word.]
A mound of shells, ashes, and other debris accumulated in a place used for cooking by Australian Aborigines; an Aboriginal kitchen-midden.
1878R. B. Smyth Aborigines Victoria I. 238 (heading) Mirrnyongs, shell-mounds, and stone-shelters. Ibid. 239 The sites for Mirrn-yong heaps appear to have been chosen generally in localities near water. 1888R. M. Johnston Syst. Acct. Geol. Tasmania 337 (Morris), With the exception of their rude inconspicuous flints, and the accumulated remains of their feasts in the ‘mirnyongs’, or native shell-mounds, along our coasts,..we have no other visible evidence of their former existence. 1896A. H. Keane Ethnol. v. 94 Australia, numerous mirrnyongs (ash-heaps, shell-mounds, &c.) mainly confined to the eastern and southern regions. 1964Mod. Encycl. Austral. & N.Z. 666/1 Mirrnyong Heaps or Kitchen Middens, aboriginal cooking areas which have grown through thousands of years of use. Consist of ashes, shells and other debris; some have an area of 5,000 sq ft and are 10 ft high. Mainly found in coastal and Murray Valley areas. 1965Austral. Encycl. I. 35/1 Continued use of the same cooking-place builds up enormous deposits of ashes, such as those in Riverina and Murray River districts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, where the ovens or Mirrnyong heaps are up to 125 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 12 feet thick. |