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New Hampshire's Landscape and Environment

by Jane S. Potter

From The New Hampshire Archeologist: 1994 Volume 33/34, Number 1

Introduction

All components of the larger New England landscape are contained within New Hampshire's modern political boundaries. Yet this particular blend of seacoast, interior river valleys, rolling uplands and higher northern peaks has a unique character. This character has been shaped by the underlying bedrock geology and the various effects of regional glaciation. Singly, and in combination, these factors have controlled the local topographical fabric and drainage patterns. The development of specific soil types and vegetation zones, and past and current climate, have also been affected. To the native New England eye, this well-worn and varied terrain is familiar and attractive. Archeological data and the historic record tell us that despite its rocky soils and irregular topography, humans have been drawn to this landscape since the earliest prehistory of New England over 10,000 years ago. Following the last glacial period and continuing to the present day, a gradual evolution of landform, weather and forest has coincided with human activity, determining resource availability and influencing patterns of habitation and movement. Recognition of this evolution, in conjunction with soil development and the effects of historic and modern activity, is the backdrop against which archeological remains, both historic and prehistoric, can be interpreted. The following text provides a broad overview of New Hampshire's landscape and environment. Resources which may have influenced human activity and, conversely, been affected by such activity, are emphasized. It is hoped that the bibliography at the end of the article will provide the reader with a listing of useful sources and additional information.

Topography and Drainage Systems

Based on general landscape character and relative relief, New Hampshire can be divided into three physiographic units or provinces (Figure 1) (Billings 1956). The southeastern section of the state lies within the Seaboard Lowland, a narrow coastal strip only 30 miles wide which follows the short 18-mile-long Atlantic shoreline (Novotny 1969). Its slightly undulating land surfaces are relatively featureless, and elevations generally average 100 feet a.s.l., beginning at sea level and rising gradually to the northPotter 1993; Gramly 1980; Lalish 1979) (J. Gengras, personal communication; W. Stinson, personal communication). Although quarry sites for hornfels (or "argillite") have yet to be identified, sources of this fine-grained, highly weathered tool material are also expected to be found in the general Lakes Region locale where ancient sedimentary formations have been metamorphosed by contact with igneous bodies (Boisvert 1992; Bunker and Potter 1993). Quartz, the most commonly worked stone tool material in New England, is also one of the most abundant minerals in New Hampshire (Meyers and Stewart 1956). Occurring in massive veins at many locations in the state, it was also randomly available as cobbles in glacial outwash and stream beds. Other mineral resources were utilized during both prehistoric and historic periods, including steatite (or soapstone) and graphite (Ohl 1993). Clay beds were worked for the manufacture of Native vessels and later served as an impetus for the historic brick industry.

The distribution of numerous granite and diorite bodies across the state encouraged both small-scale and more substantial historic quarry industries which still produce durable building stone today. Representative are the coarse black and white granodioite of the Exeter area, the fine-grained binary gray granite from Concord and Milford, and the distinctive pink granite from the Redstone quarry in Conway. Other mineral resources, including copper, lead, zinc, mica, feldspar, were exploited by only short-term or intermittent operations (Meyers and Stewart 1956). From the time of New Hampshire's earliest European settlement, bog iron was produced and peat bogs were worked. Since the beginning of the 20th century, sand and gravel has been the state's most valuable mineral commodity.

Glaciation

The character of the landscape as we see it today has also been greatly modified by regional glaciation. Primarily, this modification was caused by active ice advance as well as various modes of subsequent deglaciation. However, other complex factors, involving shifts in relative sea level and adjustments of the earth's crust, were also at play throughout and following the glacial period.

Evidence of at least two separate advances of continental ice has been recognized over much of New England (Koteff and Pessl 1985). The last override during the Late Wisconsinan period moved in a general southeasterly direction across the state and reached its maximum extent off the New England shoreline from 21,000 to 17,000 years ago (Hughes et al 1985).

During these advances, enormous amounts of bedrock and soil were moved and redistributed. Bedrock was exposed by glacial erosion, and bedrock hills were smoothed and streamlined. Ice flow was deflected to the low divides between stream drainages, producing deepened "through" valleys, such as those found between the Ossipee and Saco drainages, and wider steep-walled U-shaped notches (Crawford, Franconia, and many others) (Goldthwait et al. 1951; Newton 1974:9). Lakes Winnipesaukee and Massabesic, as well as many other ponds and lakes, now occupy irregular basins which were glacially scoured from deeply weathered bedrock (Goldthwait 1968).

A mixture of poorly sorted clay, silt, sand, cobbles and boulders, or glacial till, was laid down beneath the ice, covering most surfaces in a mantle of varying thickness. The stony soils which developed in this till have been identified over nearly 85% of the state (Diers and Vieira 1977; Vieira and Bond 1973). This type of deposit also contains pebbles which can be traced to specific bedrock sources, thus indicating the general direction of ice flow. As examples, cobbles and boulders of a coarse black and white syenite from Red Hill in Moultonboro and a blue felsite from Ossipee Mountain were redistributed to the southeast in fan-like patterns and have been found as far as 40 miles away in southwestern Maine (Goldthwait 1968; Goldthwait et al. 1951). Huge glacial erratics were also moved several miles or more from local ledges. Of these, the Madison Boulder in Silver Lake, weighing 4,600 tons, and the Pennichuck Boulder in Merrimack may represent the largest erratics in New England, if not the world (Koteff 1976; Newton 1974). Clusters of drumlins are particularly common in a wide band across the southern part of the state from the seacoast to the Connecticut Valley (Goldthwait et al 1951; Novotny 1969; Ridge 1988). Composed of compacted glacial till, these oval streamlined hills were deposited under the advancing ice; their long axes are also considered reliable directional indicators of local ice moveover the depressed coastline was accompanied by an invasion of seawater which rose to approximately 180-200 feet above the present sea level. During this period (ca. 13,000-10,500 B.P.), low-lying areas and interior stream valleys as far inland as present-day Kingston, Lee and Rochester were inundated (Earl 1984; Goldsmith 1990; Koteff et al. 1989; Novotny 1969; Oldale 1985; Vieira and Bond 1973). The extent of this invasion is delineated by deposits of marine clays and outwash deltas which were laid down in the seawater under the ice. As the ice continued to retreat and the coastline began to rise, these features were exposed and reworked by wave action. The resulting complex pattern of surficial deposits includes remnants of kame terraces, outwash deltas, former beaches, and interbedded and interfingering of marine sand, silt and clay. Till-covered bedrock hills and drumlins, such as Stratham Hill, typically rise to elevations above 200 feet a.s.l. Extensive deposits of marine clay in this area led to the establishment of many commercially successful brick-making operations, including the Star, Goodrich and Leddy brickyards in Epping and the Kane brickyard in Gonic (Chapman 1950).

Perhaps the most prominent outwash features in the state, and apparently significant to human settlement, are located in the major river valleys where long proglacial lakes developed against the northward-retreating ice margin. Formed of well-sorted deposits of sand and gravel, these features represent the remnants of broad outwash deltas which were laid down in these large bodies of water. Modern gravel pit operations have exposed the internal structure of these deltas and allowed the surficial geologist to interpret the former levels, age and overall size of these lakes, relative ice positions during delta formation and the timing of post-glacial uplift.

In the Connecticut Valley, proglacial Lake Hitchcock, at its final stage, is now believed to have extended as one continuous body of water from New Britain, CT, to West Burke, VT, a distance of 200 miles (Larsen 1987; Larsen and Koteff 1988). Its formation in the New Hampshire-Vermont section of the valley probably occurred between 15,000 and 14,000 B.P. Shoreline studies now strongly suggest that Lake Hitchcock did not persist to 11,000 B.P. as previously thought. Larsen and Koteff (1987, 1988) argue that the lake drained ca. 13,000 B.P. and prior to crustal rebound, an in the important consideration in the construction of human settlement patterns during the Paleo-Indian period. In the Merrimack Valley, a series of three lakes, Lakes Tyngsboro, Merrimack and Hooksett, also developed between the Massachusetts border and Concord during this same period (ca. 14,000-13,000 B.P.) (Koteff, Stone and Caldwell 1984).

In both instances, major arms of these lakes extended up tributary valleys, such as the Nashua, Souhegan, Suncook and Soucook in the Merrimack Valley and the Ashuelot, Cold, Mascoma and Ammonoosuc in the Connecticut Valley (Koteff 1970, 1976; Larsen and Koteff 1988; Ridge 1988). Smaller proglacial lakes also formed further to the north in these valleys and in other major river valleys, including the Saco, Ossipee and Androscoggin (Newton 1974; Thompson 1986). More ephemeral and complex systems of small lakes occupied many minor stream valleys across the state and also served as a focus for meltwater deposits of sand and gravel (Gephart 1985, 1987; Henderson 1977; Koteff 1970; Larsen 1984 and others).

These deltaic features are particularly well-demonstrated in the central Merrimack River Valley (Koteff 1970, 1976; Koteff, Stone and Caldwell 1984). Here, enormous deposits of sand, gravel, silt and clay were laid down in or graded to these lakes, partially filling the ancient bedrock valley. As the lakes drained approximately 13,000 years ago, downcutting into these un-consolidated sediments began, and the conspicuous elevated tiers which now line the valley sides were formed. Manchester Airport is situated on the high flat-topped surface of one of these terrace tiers or "delta plains" (Koteff, Stone and Caldwell 1984:385). The present level surface represents an erosional surface produced by lateral movement of the early Merrimack River channel.

Similar terrace formation also followed the draining of proglacial lakes in the Connecticut and Saco valleys and, on a smaller scale, in most other stream valleys in the state (Anonymous 1979; Larsen 1988; Wilson 1969). The sharply defined narrow second terrace which lines the broad floodplain intervales of Conway was carved into glacial lake deposits by the widely meandering Saco River.

With their level well-drained soils, proximity to major waterways and position above the floodplain, these higher sandy terraces were selected repeatedly for human settlement (Bunker and Potter 1993). Twenty-three prehistoric sites, dating from the earliest Paleo-Indian to Late Woodland times, have been discovered on this type of landform central Merrimack Valley. Early historic settlements and roadways were often constructed on this terrace, away from the seasonal high water (Gengras, Bunker and Potter 1992).

Studies now suggest that between 10,000 and 7,000 B.P. many major New England rivers followed widely meandering courses and did not reach their present channels until isostatic rebound of the earth's crust ca. 7,000 B.P. (Petersen and Putnam 1992; Ridge 1988). Radiocarbon dating of human occupation on the lowest terrace above the modern floodplain at Amoskeag Falls in Manchester and diagnostic materials recovered from archeological sites on outwash terraces along the Nashua River indicate that the Merrimack and its major tributaries were probably stabilized in their present course before 8,000 B.P. (Bunker 1986; Dincauze 1976; Potter 1993). At that time, the development of the modern floodplain began, and this accumulation of alluvium continues to the present day along segments of most stream channels in the state.

Other specific features and deposits are directly attributed to this early post-glacial period. Before vegetation could be established, the exposed finer outwash sediments were redistributed to form dunes and thin layers of windblown sand. These are particularly common in the Connecticut Valley, the lower and central Merrimack Valley, the seacoast area and in the vicinity of Ossipee (Delcore and Koteff 1989; Goldsmith 1990; Goldthwait et al. 1951; Koteff 1970, 1976). Kettle-hole lakes and ponds (Echo, Chocorua and many others) developed following the melting of outwash-buried blocks of ice (Goldthwait et al. 1951; Novotny 1969 and others). The drained basins of certain glacial lakes became the sites of significant wetlands which were connected by small streams and ponds and interspersed by low rises of outwash. This "mosaic" pattern is apparent in the Pennichuck drainage, once occupied by glacial Lake Merrimack (Koteff 1970; Nicholas 1991; Ohl, Potter and Bunker 1992). The rate of rising sea levels slowed by ca. 8,000 B.P., "with little or no change after 3,000 B.P.," permitting the coastline to stabilize and salt marshes to develop (Oldale 1985:198).

Although the ice had disappeared from New England, the presence of remaining glacial ice to the north continued to influence regional climate for several thousand years (Kutzbach 1987). Between 13,000 and 10,000 B.P., the climate was still wetter and cooler than today, comparable to modern interior Labrador (Goldthwait 1968; Jacobson et al. 1987). These conditions were likely experienced by New Hampshire's earliest inhabitants. In New England, this was followed by a rapid transition to warmer and dryer conditions which lasted from 9,000-8,000 B.P. to 5,000-4,000 B.P., corresponding to the Middle and Late Archaic periods of prehistory (Davis et al. 1980; Petersen and Putnam 1992). The temperatures during this climatic optimum were as warm as Virginia today. By 4,000 B.P., a fluctuating cooler and wetter weather pattern had begun; this pattern has been more evident during the last five centuries (Davis et al. 1980; Goldthwait 1968). Weather observations gleaned from historic records support these paleobotanical data and indicate a relatively wet and cooler period interrupted by "occasional decades of drought" between 1620-1890 (Baron 1988:39). During the latter half of the 19th century, a general more stable warming trend began which continues today. The current climate in New Hampshire is characterized by cold winters and mild summers with an average frost-free season of 105 to 130 days (Bond and Handler 1981; Diers and Vieira 1977). Precipitation, at an annual rate of 40-45 inches, is distributed evenly throughout the year.

With the exception of the highest summits, there are few areas in New Hampshire "where trees will not grow" (Jorgensen 1977:13). The development of this natural cover was initially controlled by the immediate post-glacial climate, in conjunction with local topography. Following deglaciation, an open tundra-like vegetation became established and persisted for about 2000 years at all elevations (Davis et al. 1980; Davis and Jacobson 1985). As the climate warmed, the tundra was replaced by an expanding tree population of pine, spruce and birch, and the transition from open woodland to a closed forest canopy was completed ca. 10,000 B.P. Pollen stratigraphies indicate that this interval in the Early Archaic period may have been marked by more local diversity of tree type and a "significant presence of oak" (Jacobson et al. 1987; Petersen and Putnam 1992). Generally, these vegetation changes shifted continuously, but at variable rates, from southeast to north across the state. However, individual tree types may have been introduced independently, and local forest diversity may also have been affected by disease and fire (Gaudreau 1988). By 8,000-6,000 B.P., the modern forest of hemlock, beech, and yellow birch was becoming established. European settlement, and a flourishing timber industry, had a drastic impact on New Hampshire's woodlands. By 1825-1850, the original timber stands in Strafford County had been cut off (Vieira and Bond 1973). Today, the state is 80-90% reforested with secondary growth of mixed northern hardwoods and conifers (Diers and Vieira 1977; Vieira and Bond 1973). Combining tree types from the northern boreal forest and the mixed deciduous woodlands to the south, this "transition forest" is characterized by its openness and productivity (Sutton and Sutton 1985).

Conclusions

From the time of man's first arrival, elements of New Hampshire's landscape, its woodlands, river systems, and bedrock, have furnished important resources. A productive forest, diverse wildlife habitat, abundant sources of fresh water, extensive wetlands, workable stone for tools and temperate climate were all available. Although their application may have changed over time, in many instances these resources have been utilized continuously. The great regional river systems which initially served as Native travelways are now controlled in a succession of dam impoundments, and important fishing locations at major falls, such as Amoskeag, are now the sites of hydroelectric stations. Along most river valleys, the level surfaces of well-drained glacial outwash terraces attracted earliest settlement. These landforms have continued to serve as locations for modern highways and airports, as well as an important source of construction materials. Alluvial terraces along the rivers have been cleared and plowed for farming. Upland forests which provided Native Americans with food and shelter were later extensively cleared for timber and fuel.

Accessibility is perhaps the landscape quality most favorable to human settlement in New Hampshire. Promoted by the patterns of underlying bedrock and the effects of continental glaciation, its drainage networks, long river valleys, mountain notches and interconnecting through valleys have contributed to this openness, thus enabling humans to move, to obtain and transport resources, and encouraging social contact.

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Victoria Bunker, Justine Gengras and Andrea Ohl for their comments and editorial advice during the writing of this paper. A special thanks must go to George Nicholas, who has always understood the relevance of the geologic setting in the interpretation of archeological sites.

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