Dighton Rock

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The 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 the controversy surrounding a set of mysterious inscriptions on it. In 1963, the rock was removed from the river by a coffer dam and is under the protection of the state of Massachusetts.

The boulder was most likely deposited in the riverbed during the last ice age, approximately 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 [1].

Over the last three hundred years, many theories have been proposed for the origin of the mysterious inscriptions. These include:

American Indian origin
Phoenician origin
Norse origin (proposed in 1837 by Carl Christian Rafn)
Portuguese origin (see Miguel Corte-Real and the theory proposed by Edmund B. Delabarre)
Chinese origin (proposed by Gavin Menzies in his book 1421: The Year China Discovered America)

In November 1952, the Miguel Corte Real Memorial Society of New York City acquired 49 1/2 acres (200,000 m²) of land adjacent to the Rock for the purpose of creating a park. However, in 1951 the Massachusetts Legislature expropriated the same land for a State Park. More land was purchased, and 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.