Dighton Rock

by Ayla Schwartz

Dighton Rock (see also, the Dighton Writing Rock, the Assonet Monument) is a petroglyphic boulder located in Massachusetts along the northwesternly corner of Assonet River in an area that was orignally occupied by the indigenous Wôpanâak people. Although modern archaeologists agree that the Dighton rock petroglyphs were probably inscribed by the indigenous people of the area, Dighton rock has been a source of controversy due to the assertions by pseudoarchaeologists that it is evidence of pre-Columbian contact with indigenous nations in the Americas.

Dighton rock and its discoverer, Rev. John Danforth