Colonial Era Land Clearance Inferred from Soil Pollen Analysis: A Massachusetts Case Study

Pollen deposited on the soil surface in the temperate zone is moved down through the matrix by percolating rainwater and progressively destroyed by natural processes, severely limiting the age of the pollen records in archaeological sites. Colonial-era slopewash onto the location of a pollen profile at the ca. A.D. 1658-1710 Lt. David Fiske homestead in Lexington, Massachusetts shielded a land clearance record from percolation and degradation. Here beech trees were selectively removed, followed later by clear cutting for pasture development. This pattern of beech removal some time before clear cutting is replicated in ca. A.D. 1620-1700 pollen spectra at Linsley Pond, Connecticut. Statements by farmers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries indicate that beech trees were undesirable because they were difficult to clear, and the 17th Century pollen records from Lindsey Pond and the Lt. David Fiske Site reveal that at least some early colonists did the labor intensive part of agricultural preparation by removing beech trees some time interval before clear cutting their land.