Pollen Percolation Rates in Euroamerican-Era Cultural Deposits in the Northeastern United States

Dimbleby's ( The Palynology of Archaeological Sites, New York, Academic Press, 1985: p. 3) data from forested sites indicate that pollen percolates downward in soils at the rate of 1 cm in c. 30 years. Data from archaeological sites and former agricultural fields in the northeastern United States suggest that pollen percolates downward at the faster rate of c. 1 cm in 4·2 years in soils not sheltered by woodland. This in turn suggests that the pollen sequences of former non-forest soils preserved by rapid natural and cultural burial record much shorter periods of time than previously believed.