Locating the Pre-Clearance Forest Border at Fort Necessity, Great Meadows, Pennsylvania, Using Pollen Analysis

Abstract

The forest border position was critical in the brief 1754 siege of George Washington’s Fort Necessity at Great Meadows, Pennsylvania. Pollen analysis of core transects across the meadow and up the adjacent hillsides provided evidence of the location of the pre-clearance forest border to within a 20 ft. interval on seven of eight core transects and within 40 ft. on the eighth. This could not have been accomplished with the lake and bog palynology characteristic of palaeoecological palynology. Reconstruction of the historical period vegetation of specific plots requires investigation of the soil-pollen spectra of the target location itself. Pollen percolates downward in soil profiles, allowing the analyst to recognize the pollen spectra of the target time period, and published empirical studies of horizontal predeposition pollen transport assist the investigator in defining vegetation changes across space.