50 ABBOTT— ARCHAEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF 



that should never be beyond the capabiHties of an archaeologist. 

 Such reconstruction is not a side-stepping from facts to fancy, but 

 a confirmatory demonstration relating to the discovery of artifacts. 



The plat under consideration is the low-lying termination of a 

 long, rectangular field, mostly at a considerable elevation above the 

 brook that drains a tortuous valley of about five hundred acres. 

 The " dune " area is not distinguishable, at present, from the field 

 of which it forms a part, but until recently was noticeable because 

 of a slight conical elevation, which was the more prominent when 

 not covered with vegetation. The surface soil is a shade lighter 

 than that of the field of which it is a continuation and of finer grain, 

 as indicated by clouds of dust that rise from it when a breeze passes, 

 but which is not forceful enough to equally afifect the surrounding 

 surfaces. 



This plat, the "dune," if such it be, was deforested about 1770 

 and since 1800 has been more or less continuously under cultiva- 

 tion. The region hereabout, a plain of thousands of acres, has 

 undergone marked changes since the influx of European settlers, 

 less than three centuries ago. Before that time, it was distinctly 

 one of hills and hollows that have now disappeared. Lands deeded 

 as " swamp " and " meadows " have now lost every vestige of such 

 conditions as these names imply, and only a slightly undulating 

 surface marks what was once highly diversified. This change is 

 due, unquestionably, to deforesting and subsequent cultivation, for 

 a sandy soil, unprotected by vegetation, is necessarily the sport of 

 the elements. Wind and rain attack it viciously at times or play- 

 fully, if we may so call it, but the surface is aft'ected by the lightest 

 breeze and the gentlest rain. I have known a strong March wind in 

 seventy-two hours to build up a ridge of sand, a hundred yards long, 

 twelve yards wide and seven feet high ; leaving a depression in an 

 adjoining field, from whence the sand was carried deeper by the 

 subtraction of this " dune," of about sixty thousand cubic feet. 

 Again, on August 24, 1877, there was a " cloudburst " here that 

 materially altered the surface in places, although practically all the 

 area was protected by growing crops or weeds, yet tons of sand and 

 gravel were washed from upland fields and carried to the meadows, 

 and a gully through which the present brook flows — the natural out- 



