Pollen-record formation processes, interdisciplinary archaeology, and land use by mill workers and managers: The Boott Mills Corporation, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1836–1942

Abstract

The pollen content of a soil profile is altered by natural processes that destroy pollen and move it downward in the profile. This downward movement separates older pollen from younger in slowly accumulating profiles and produces a spectrum with larger concentrations of pollen at the top of the profile and more pollen that appears degraded at the bottom. Archaeological site formation processes may be evaluated by comparison with this natural spectrum. When this pattern appears in an archaeological profile, cultural deposition has been slow. In places where there was more human activity, soil compression and faster sediment deposition preclude pollen percolation. These soil compression and fast sedimentation processes produce pollen concentrations that correlate with shifts in pollen types and reflect the relative density of vegetation. Reversals of the natural pollen concentration and degradation patterns and pollen concentrations shifting abruptly without clear stratigraphic boundaries in the soil reflect buried and exposed episodic fills and soil disturbance of several kinds. These pollen-record formation processes are used to define the nature and intensity of residential land use by mill workers and mill managers in 19th-century Lowell, Massachusetts.