The suggestion is made that the distribution of certain elements and their amounts should be different in middens than in the surrounding undisturbed soil. Test middens at two localities were systematically sampled at different levels, and the samples were analyzed for chloride, copper, and zinc. The two metals were determined in different types of extracts in order to distinguish between the metals combined in minerals and combined in organic matter. It was found that the copper and zinc content was distinctly different in the midden samples than in corresponding samples from the surrounding soil. Apparently a period of 1,000 to 2,000 years is not long enough to bring the distribution of these trace elements back to that in a comparable undisturbed site. It may be possible to approximate the age of archaeological sites from differences of this kind.