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Taxonomy and Nomenclature for the Stone Domain in New England

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Abstract

The European settlement of rural New England created an agro-ecosystem of fenced fields and pastures linked to human settlements and hydropowered village industry. The most salient archaeological result was the “stone domain,” a massive, sprawling constellation of stone features surviving as mainly undocumented ruins within reforested, closed-canopy woodlands. We present a rigorous taxonomy for this stone domain based on objective field criteria that is rendered user-friendly by correlating it to vernacular typologies and functional interpretations. The domain’s most salient class of features are stone walls, here defined as objects meeting five inclusive criteria: material, granularity, elongation, continuity, and height. We also offer a nomenclature and descriptive protocol for archaeological field documentation of wall stones (size, shape, arrangement, lithology) and wall structures (courses, lines, tiers, segments, contacts, terminations, and junctions). Our methodological tools complement recent computationally intensive mapping tools of light ranging and detection (LiDAR), drone-imaging, and machine learning.

Resumen

El asentamiento europeo en la zona rural de Nueva Inglaterra creó un agroecosistema de campos cercados y pastos vinculados a los asentamientos humanos y la industria dependiente de energía hidráulica de las aldeas. El resultado arqueológico más destacado fue el "dominio de piedra", una constelación masiva y en expansión de características de piedra que sobrevivieron como ruinas principalmente indocumentadas dentro de bosques reforestados de dosel cerrado. Presentamos una taxonomía rigurosa para este dominio de piedra basada en criterios objetivos de campo que se vuelve fácil de usar al correlacionarla con tipologías vernáculas e interpretaciones funcionales. La clase de características más destacada del dominio son los muros de piedra, aquí definidos como objetos que cumplen cinco criterios inclusivos: material, granularidad, elongación, continuidad y altura. También ofrecemos una nomenclatura y un protocolo descriptivo para la documentación arqueológica de campo de piedras de pared (tamaño, forma, disposición, litología) y estructuras de pared (hiladas, líneas, niveles, segmentos, contactos, terminaciones y uniones). Nuestras herramientas metodológicas complementan las recientes herramientas de mapeo computacionalmente intensivas de detección y medición de luz (LiDAR), imágenes de drones y aprendizaje automático.

Résumé

L'implantation européenne dans la Nouvelle Angleterre rurale a créé un écosystème agricole de champs et de pâturages clôturés, lié aux colonies humaines et à une industrie villageoise fondée sur l'énergie hydraulique. La conséquence archéologique la plus saillante fut le « domaine de pierres », une vaste constellation tentaculaire d'éléments de pierre traversant le temps comme des ruines essentiellement non documentées au sein de forêts reboisées à canopée fermée. Nous présentons une taxonomie rigoureuse de ce domaine de pierres sur la base de critères objectifs de terrain rendus faciles d'utilisation grâce à leur corrélation avec des typologies vernaculaires et des interprétations fonctionnelles. Les murets de pierre sont la catégorie la plus importante des caractéristiques du domaine, ils sont ici définis comme des objets correspondant à cinq critères inclusifs : matériau, granularité, allongement, continuité et hauteur. Nous proposons également une nomenclature et un protocole de description pour la documentation du champ archéologique des pierres des murets (taille, forme, disposition, lithologie) et des structures des murets (parcours, lignes, niveaux, segments, contacts, terminaisons et jonctions). Nos outils méthodologiques sont complémentaires avec les récents outils de mappage axés sur une informatique intensive tels que la détection de la lumière et de mesure à distance (LiDAR), l'imagerie par drone et l'apprentissage par machine.

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Notes

  1. My use of the pronoun “we” in this article reflects the contributions of hundreds of unnamed parrticipants who have offered feedback.

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Acknowledgments:

This project grew out of work at the Stone Wall Initiative within the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, where I was helped by too many students and staff to name. Thousands of New England scholars and residents contributed to this effort through their provocative questions, disagreements, and willingness as research subjects. Rhode Island State Archaeologist Timothy Ives and Connecticut state archaeologists Brian Jones (deceased) and Nick Bellantoni (emeritus) provided helpful comments on an early draft of this manuscript, as did historical archaeologist and GIS expert Katherine Johnson. Connecticut state historian Walter Woodward contributed encouragement. William Ouimet and Richard Manandhar of the Department of Geoscience at the University of Connecticut helped tweak the nomenclature and taxonomy during an initial field test of the method. A portion of this work was supported by a 2002–2004 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant from the Geoscience Directorate to Robert Thorson, PI. Kristine Thorson assisted during the synoptic driving reconnaissance of New England.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Connecticut, Beach Hall, (U-1045), 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, U.S.A.

    Robert M. Thorson

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Correspondence to Robert M. Thorson.

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Conflict of Interest

There was no funding for this project aside from institutional support, small book advances on the general topic, and a related NSF grant on stone-wall education. Though I have received honoraria for many talks, none of them were for the rigorous taxonomy. Though I have served as a consultant when mapping walls, this is not specifically related to the taxonomy. I know of no conflict of interest for this purely methodological work.

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Thorson, R.M. Taxonomy and Nomenclature for the Stone Domain in New England. Hist Arch 57, 1353–1384 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-023-00432-0

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