Temporal Changes in a Precontact and Contact Period Cultural Landscape Along the Southern Rhode Island Coast

Abstract

The south coast of Rhode Island provides an opportunity to study temporal changes in a maritime cultural landscape (MCL). Approximately 4,150 years ago, nine coastal lagoons were formed in this “pond region,” as rising sea levels submerged topographic low points on the landscape. This resulted in changes in the ways people interacted with and shaped their environment. As they began to center their subsistence activities around the new natural resources and likely began to use the sea routes provided by the ponds, an MCL formed in an area that was formerly inland. Two of the most complex village sites in New England and more than half of the sites in Rhode Island with evidence of maize agriculture are located in the pond region. European contact and colonization led to a second period of change in the MCL, as the English obtained land primarily through purchase, as recorded on land sale deeds.