Dighton Rock

The Dighton Rock is a 40-ton boulder, originally located in the riverbed of the Taunton River at Berkley, Massachusetts (formerly part of the town of Dighton). The rock is noted for its petroglyphs ("primarily lines, geometric shapes, and schematic drawings of people, along with writing, both verified and not."), carved designs of ancient and uncertain origin, and the controversy about their creators. In 1963, during construction of a coffer dam, state officials removed the rock from the river for preservation. It was installed in a museum in a nearby park, Dighton Rock State Park. In 1980 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

The boulder was most likely deposited in the riverbed during the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000-13,000 years ago. The boulder has the form of a slanted, six-sided block, approximately 5 feet (1.5 m) high, 9.5 feet (2.9 m) wide, and 11 feet (3.4 m) long. It is gray-brown crystalline sandstone of medium to coarse texture. The surface with the inscriptions has a trapezoidal face and is inclined 70 degrees to the northwest. It was found facing the water of the bay.

In 1680, the English colonist Rev. John Danforth, made a drawing of the petroglyphs, which has been preserved in the British Museum. His drawing conflicts with the reports of others and the current markings on the rock. In 1690 Rev. Cotton Mather described the rock in his book, The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated:

“Among the other Curiosities of New-England, one is that of a mighty Rock, on a perpendicular side whereof by a River, which at High Tide covers part of it, there are very deeply Engraved, no man alive knows How or When about half a score Lines, near Ten Foot Long, and a foot and half broad, filled with strange Characters: which would suggest as odd Thoughts about them that were here before us, as there are odd Shapes in that Elaborate Monument.…”

For more than three hundred years, people have proposed many hypotheses as to the origin of the original markings. Theories varied because of the English colonists' and later American inability to decipher the petroglyphs. Their world views influenced their interpretations. They attempted to fit North American history into what they knew based on the Bible and classical history. They did not recognize a relation between the Native Americans whom they encountered and the ancient monuments discovered in the lands.

Hypotheses about the creation of the markings include:

• Indigenous peoples of North America - who were known to have inscribed petroglyphs in rocks (a schematic face on the Dighton Rock is similar to an Indian petroglyph in Eastern Vermont)
• Ancient Phoenicians - proposed in 1783 by Ezra Stiles in his "Election Sermon."
• Norse - proposed in 1837 by Carl Christian Rafn
• Portuguese - proposed in 1912 by Edmund B. Delabarre, who believed that after seeing Portuguese writing then used the rock for their own inscriptions
• Chinese -proposed by Gavin Menzies in his 2002 book 1421: The Year China Discovered America

The controversy entered popular culture, especially in the nineteenth century. In 1848, Massachusetts writer James Russell Lowell suggested, concerning Presidential candidates letters to newspapers:

"f letters must be written, profitable use might be made of the Dighton rock hieroglyphic or the cuneiform script, every fresh decipherer of which is enabled to educe a different meaning".

Lowell made other references to the rock in his widely circulated satirical writing, and may thus have helped to popularize it.

In November 1952, the Miguel Corte-Real Memorial Society Memorial Society of New York City acquired 49½ acres (200,000 m²) of land adjacent to the rock to create a park. However, in 1951 the Massachusetts Legislature expropriated the same land for a State Park. More land was purchased. Dighton Rock State Park now has an area of 100 acres (400,000 m²). The vicinity of Dighton Rock has been beautified and furnished with parking and picnic facilities.