Flagg Swamp Rockshelter (Archaic)
Basic information
Sample name: Flagg Swamp Rockshelter (Archaic)
Reference: S. Blancke and A. E. Spiess. 2006. The Flagg Swamp Rockshelter, Marlborough, MA: a summary. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society 67(1):2-24 [ER 3223]
Geography
Country: United States
State: Massachusetts
County: Middlesex
Coordinate: 42° 21' N, 71° 33' W
Coordinate basis: based on nearby landmark
Time interval: Holocene
Max Ma: 0.00475
Min Ma: 0.00334
Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)
Geography comments: "in Marlborough" and destroyed "to make Route 85 in Marlborough and Hudson" (coordinate based on Marlborough)
there are eight radiocarbon dates ranging from 4750 +/- 100 B.P. to 3340 +/- 90 B.P. (presumed to be uncalibrated because errors are symmetrically distributed)
there are eight radiocarbon dates ranging from 4750 +/- 100 B.P. to 3340 +/- 90 B.P. (presumed to be uncalibrated because errors are symmetrically distributed)
Environment
Lithology: not described
Taphonomic context: human accumulation,rock shelter
Archaeology: hearths,stone tools,other artifacts,other structures
Habitat comments: a rockshelter that "was a relatively small habitation site occupied during the cold months of the year by small groups of people"
Late Archaic material is from "Stratum 4, approximately 50 cm in thickness... the main cultural stratum that contained most of the pit features and artifacts, was a grey ashy living floor soil littered throughout with bone"
there are numerous stone tools and "worked freshwater shell" but no ceramics or burials
there was a "wall of dry-laid stacked angular stones and pieces of roof fall" and 15 pits that "were bowl-shaped, and were originally fire pits reused for trash"
Late Archaic material is from "Stratum 4, approximately 50 cm in thickness... the main cultural stratum that contained most of the pit features and artifacts, was a grey ashy living floor soil littered throughout with bone"
there are numerous stone tools and "worked freshwater shell" but no ceramics or burials
there was a "wall of dry-laid stacked angular stones and pieces of roof fall" and 15 pits that "were bowl-shaped, and were originally fire pits reused for trash"
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,rodents,ungulates,other small mammals,turtles,clams
Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash
Sample size: 361 specimens
Sampled by: F. W. Huntington
Years: 1980
Sampling comments: birds and fishes are present, but counts include Woodland period material from a higher stratigraphic unit
material was "excavated and screened" but mesh size is not discussed
material was "excavated and screened" but mesh size is not discussed
Metadata
Sample number: 3546
Contributor: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2019-09-18 22:10:47
Modified: 2023-04-03 09:01:29
Abundance distribution
20 species
5 singletons
total count 361
geometric series index: 34.2
Fisher's α: 4.562
geometric series k: 0.7494
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5438
Shannon's H: 1.4603
Good's u: 0.9862
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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| Cervus canadensis | 11 | 170 kg browser-grazer |
| Castor canadensis | 15 | 11 kg |
| Ondatra zibethicus | 4 | 1.1 kg |
| Marmota sp. | 2 | |
| Sylvilagus sp. | 2 | |
| Ursus americanus | 1 | 115 kg browser-insectivore |
| Procyon lotor | 6 | 5.5 kg carnivore-granivore |
| Canis lupus familiaris | 6 | 43 kg carnivore |
| "Canis familiaris" | ||
| Urocyon sp. | 7 | |
| Lynx sp. | 1 | |
| Mephitis sp. | 2 | |
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| Chrysemys picta | 7 | |
| Glyptemys insculpta | 2 | |
| "Clemmys insculpta" | ||
| Terrapene carolina | 1 | |
| Elliption complanatus | 25 | |
| Anodonta sp. | 5 | |
| Alasmidonta undulate | 1 | |
| Lampsilis sp. | 1 | |