POLLEN PERCOLATION RATES IN EUROAMERICAN-ERA CULTURAL DEPOSITS IN THENORTHEASTERN UNITED-STATES

Dimbleby's (The Palynology of Archaeological Sites, New York, Academic Press, 1985: p. 3) data from forested sites indicate that pollen perc olates downward in soils at the rate of 1 cm in c. 30 years. Data from archaeological sites and former agricultural fields in the northeaste rn United States suggest that pollen percolates downward at the faster rate of c. 1 cm in 4.2 years in soils not sheltered by woodland. This in turn suggests that the pollen sequences of former non-forest soils preserved by rapid natural and cultural burial record much shorter pe riods of time than previously believed.