Battlefield Palynology: Reinterpretation of British Earthworks, Saratoga National Historical Park, Stillwater, New York

Abstract

Pollen analysis was done on a core through a linear mound formerly identified as a 1777 British. ea:thwork at Saratoga National Historical Park. Documents indicate that the British earthwork was butlt m a forest in a sparsely settled region. Pollen data record a 71-year reforestation sequence under the mound, indicating that it cannot be a Revolutionary War earthwork. II a ete fait analyse du pollen d'une carotte provenant d'un remblai lineaire precedemment identifie comme un ouvrage de terre bn'tannique de 1777 au pare historique national de Saratoga. D'apres les. documents /' ouvrage Jut construit dans une foret situee dans une region peu colonisee. Les donnees re/atzves au pollen' relevent un reboisement de 71 ans sous le remblai, ce qui indique qu'il ne peut s'agir d'un ouvrage de terre de Ia guerre revolutionnaire.

Exploratory Pollen Analysis of the Ditch of the 1665 Turf Fort, Jamestown, Virginia

“…At the Kingsmill section of Jamestown Island the local pollen sequence that had percolated down into the soil from a 17th-century ground surface was preserved by burial under a low berm marking the Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 27, 1998 79 boundary of an agricultural field (Kelso 1995). In core Jl-65 from Pitch and Tar Swamp an apparent local agricultural record percolated down into the soil and was preserved by marsh transgression caused by sea level rise (Kelso 1994d).…”

“…In each of these the pollen record was created by a single postdepositional process and preserved by a single natural or cultural event. In Jamestown Refuse Pit Number 1 the microenvironmental pollen record deposited with trash dumped in a borrow pit was preserved from percolation and the agents of degradation by flat artifacts (Kelso et al 1995). At the Kingsmill section of Jamestown Island the local pollen sequence that had percolated down into the soil from a 17th-century ground surface was preserved by burial under a low berm marking the Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol.…”

“…Particular matrix environments such as soil compression, rapid sedimentation, the presence of Northl!llst Historical Archaeology/Vol. 27, 1998 71 metal corrosion products, the deposition of flat objects, and quick, deep burial will protect at least some pollen from percolation and complete degradation (Schoenwetter 1962;Van Zeist 1967;King, Klipple and Duffield 1975;Dimbleby 1985;Kelso 1993;Kelso et al 1995). Rapid, deep burial by cultural and natural agents was most important in protecting the Turf Fort pollen spectra, but the normally destructive percolation process was instrumental in preserving many critical data.…”

“…The most probable source of ditch fill was the earthwork of the fort. Pollen does not percolate down into mounds of earth (Kelso 1995;Kelso and Hsu 1995), and little of the pollen in the earthwork matrix was deposited on the earthwork when it was standing. Most of the spectrum in the earthwork matrix was already in the soil when it was mined to create the earthwork.…”

“…The research design for the Jamestown assessment is based on interdiscip linary studies involving macrofossil analysis, soil microstratigraphy, palynology, archaeology, and documentary data. This approach has already provided valuable insights into local environments and landscapes (Mrozowski, Kelso, and Currie 1994;Kelso et al 1995). The objectives of the pollen research reported here were to determine whether local environmental and land-use information was preserved in the matrix filling the ditch of an earthwork constructed to protect British shipping during the Second Dutch War (1665-1667) and to ascertain whether palynological site formation process indicators would contribute to our understanding of the history of the ditch.…”