https://data.amerigeoss.org/dataset/510ae333-5eb9-4f71-97cb-894a8b0526c6
type: Dataset
title: Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) data and ages for selected Native American Sacred Ceremonial Stone Landscape features--Final Project Report Submitted to the Narragansett Tribal Historic Preservation Trust
description: Stone rows, enclosures, structures and chambers can be found in the landscapes of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Structures similar to those shown in the cover photo are documented elsewhere. The age, cultural affiliation, and purpose of these stone structures--which are found in a variety of forms, such as piles arranged in spatial configurations across landscapes, shapes suggesting animal effigies, platforms and chambers--have been the subject of much debate. Some have argued they are remnants of colonial agricultural and storage practices; others that they are prehistoric Native American ceremonial structures. Ascertaining the time periods of their creation had previously been impossible. We felt that optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) had the potential to provide meaningful insights into their origins. In June 2018, samples for luminescence dating were taken from three sites: the Pratt Hill Site near Upton, located in south central Massachusetts; the Tolba Site of Leverett, located in western Massachusetts; and the Site of Hopkinton, Rhode Island. These samples were taken from hand-dug pits beneath stone structures to depths past modern soils into the geomorphic feature upon which the stones were placed (i.e. alluvial fan or terrace). The object of this excavation was to date the placement time of the stones onto the geomorphic feature. Luminescence chronology is an ideal scientific measurement, since the physics of the phenomenon mean that it dates the last time mineral grains of quartz and feldspar were exposed to sunlight or heat above 150 °C. All sediment samples were dated using OSL on very small aliquots of <50-10 grains. The age of the sample from the Site of Hopkinton, Rhode Island is in the range of 1570-1490 C.E (or 490 ± 40 years ago). The ages of the samples from Pratt Hill near Upton, Massachusetts, at a site that was recently desecrated by being scraped off the boulder foundation it was originally built on, are 1475-1375 C.E. (595 ± 50 years)…
keyword: age-estimation-methods
keyword: amerigeo
keyword: amerigeoss
keyword: archeology
keyword: ckan
keyword: geo
keyword: geochronology
keyword: geoss
keyword: hopkinson
keyword: leverett
keyword: luminescence-dating
keyword: massachusetts
keyword: national
keyword: new-england
keyword: north-america
keyword: optically-stimulated-luminescence
keyword: pratt-hill
keyword: radiation-dosimetry
keyword: united-states
keyword: usgs-5f6a595082ce38aaa24493cf
issued: 2025-11-21T16:12:20.298515
modified: 20200923
theme: {geospatial}
contact point: Organization
  fn: Shannon Mahan
spatial: Location

US Migrating
type: Agent

Original Metadata
type: Distribution
description: The metadata original format
media type: text/xml
format: XML
access URL: https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.5f6a595082ce38aaa24493cf.xml
issued: 2022-07-07T15:04:23.809236
modified: 2025-11-21T16:12:20.287121

Digital Data
type: Distribution
description: Landing page for access to the data
media type: application/http
format: XML
access URL: https://doi.org/10.5066/P96V29EC
issued: 2022-07-07T15:04:23.809246
modified: 2025-11-21T16:12:20.287555