Chapter CIV: Section 2: The Dighton Rock

In this connection some allusion must be made to the learned discussions upon the Dighton rock before mentioned, p. 86. The originally Algonquian characters were translated by a Scandinavian antiquary as an account of the party of Thorfinn, the Hopeful. A distinguished Orientalist made out clearly the word “melek” (king). Another scholar triumphantly established the characters to be Scythian, and still another identified them as Phenician. But this inscription has been so manipulated that it is difficult now to determine the original details.

An official report made in 1830 by the Rhode Island Historical Society and published by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, in “Antiquitates Americanæ,” by C. C. Rafn (_e_), presents the best account known concerning the Dighton rock and gives copies made from time to time of the inscription, which are here reproduced, Pl. LIV. The text is condensed as follows, but in quoting it the statement that the work was not done by the Indians is without approval.

I. _Dr. Danforth’s Drawing 1680_

II. _Dr. Cotton Mather’s 1712_

III. _Dr. Greenwood’s 1730_

IV. _Mr. Stephen Sewell’s 1768_

V. _Mr. James Winthrop’s 1788_

VI. _Mr. Kendall’s 1807_

VII. _Mr. Job Gardner’s 1812_

VIII. _Dr. Baylies and Mr. Goodwin’s 1790_

IX. _The Rhode Island Historical Society’s 1830_

DIGHTON ROCK.]

It is situated about 6-1/2 miles south of Taunton, on the east
side of Taunton river, a few feet from the shore, and on the west
side of Assonet neck, in the town of Berkley, county of Bristol, and
commonwealth of Massachusetts; although probably from the fact of
being generally visited from the opposite side of the river, which
is in Dighton, it has always been known by the name of the Dighton
Writing Rock. It faces northwest toward the bed of the river, and is
covered by the water 2 or 3 feet at the highest, and is left 10 or
12 feet from it at the lowest tides; it is also completely immersed
twice in twenty-four hours. The rock does not occur in situ, but
shows indubitable evidence of having occupied the spot where it
now rests since the period of that great and extensive disruption
which was followed by the transportation of immense bowlders to,
and a deposit of them in, places at a vast distance from their
original beds. It is a mass of well characterized, fine grained
graywacke. Its true color, as exhibited by a fresh fracture, is a
bluish gray. There is no rock in the immediate neighborhood that
would at all answer as a substitute for the purpose for which the
one bearing the inscription was selected, as they are aggregates
of the large conglomerate variety. Its face, measured at the base
is 11-1/2 feet, and in height it is a little rising 5 feet. The
upper surface forms with the horizon an inclined plane of about 60
degrees. The whole of the face is covered to within a few inches of
the ground with unknown hieroglyphics. There appears little or no
method in the arrangement of them. The lines are from half an inch
to an inch in width; and in depth, sometimes one-third of an inch,
though generally very superficial. They were, inferring from the
rounded elevations and intervening depressions, pecked in upon the
rock and not chiseled or smoothly cut out. The marks of human power
and manual labor are indelibly stamped upon it. No one who examines
attentively the workmanship will believe it to have been done by
the Indians. Moreover, it is a well attested fact that nowhere
throughout our widespread domain is a single instance of their
recording or having recorded their deeds or history on stone.

“The committee also examined the various drawings that have been
made of this inscription.

“The first was made by Cotton Mather as early as 1712; and may
be found in No. 338, vol. 28, of the Philosophical Transactions, pp.
70 and 71; also in vol. 5, Jones’s abridgment, under article fourth.

“Another was made by James Winthrop in 1788, a copy of which may
be found in the Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. 2, part 2, p.
126.

“Dr. Baylies and Mr. Goodwin made another drawing in 1790, a
copy of which is inclosed.

“Mr. E. A. Kendall in 1807 took another which may be found in
the Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. 3, part 1, p. 165.

“And one has been more recently [1812] made by Mr. Job Gardner,
a lithograph from which is also inclosed.

“Dr. Isaac Greenwood exhibited a drawing of the inscription
before the Society of Antiquarians of London bearing the date of
1730. The drawing by the Historical Society of Rhode Island bears
the date of 1830.

“We send you a copy of the inscription, as given on said
representation of the rock, being what you probably desire; but
having made an accurate drawing of the rock itself for your
special use, we have not deemed it necessary to forward the one
above referred to. We also send a copy of Judge Winthrop’s drawing
contained in the same work, and of one taken by Stephen Sewell in
1768.

“You will likewise find among the drawings a copy of what
purports to be ‘a faithful and accurate representation of the
inscription,’ taken by Dr. Danforth in 1680. This is not sent with
any idea that it will prove serviceable in your present inquiry,
but simply to show what strange things have been conjured up by
travelers and sent to Europe for examination. We are, indeed, at
times almost compelled to believe there must have been some other
inscription rock seen; and yet from the accompanying accounts it
would appear that all refer to the same one; besides, there is a
degree of similarity in the complicated triangular figures which
appear on all.”

See, also, the illustration from Schoolcraft, Fig. 49, supra, with further account. The fact was mentioned on p. 87 that the characters on the Dighton Rock strongly resembled those on the Indian God Rock, Pennsylvania, and some others specified. Lately some observers have noticed the same fact with a different deduction. They presuppose that the Dighton inscription is Runic, and therefore that the one in Pennsylvania was carved by the Norsemen. This logic would bring the Vikings very far inland into West Virginia and Ohio.