AAP FACTCHECK – American monument Plymouth Rock has remained at the same sea level for over 400 years, social media posts claim.
This is misleading. The rock, which supposedly marks a landing site of early English colonists, has been moved multiple times, and there’s considerable evidence that sea levels have risen locally and globally.
Australian and New Zealand Facebook users are giving a second life to misinformation about the rock after earlier claims were debunked by The Associated Press in 2022.
Facebook posts appear to show an image of the rock where it currently sits at the Pilgrim Memorial State Park, with the text “Plymouth Rock still at sea level after 402 years”.
The rock is said to mark the 1620 landing site of the Mayflower Pilgrims, who sailed from England and established a colony in what’s now the US state of Massachusetts, according to local tourism website See Plymouth.
But Plymouth Rock has been moved multiple times.
The first references to ‘Plymouth Rock’ were over 100 years after the actual landing, according to the Pilgrim Hall Museum.
The rock was split in 1774; the top portion was moved from the shore to the town square, while the bottom part remained in the wharf, according to physician and writer James Thacher.
The top portion was moved again in 1834, this time to Pilgrim Hall Museum.
In 1880, the Pilgrim Society moved the top of the rock from its location in front of the Pilgrim Hall Museum and reunited it with the base of the rock, which the museum said was when the date “1620” was carved into the rock.
In 1920, the rock was excavated so the waterfront could be landscaped, the museum said, and then repositioned on the shoreline at sea level.
Comments on one of the Facebook posts suggest some people interpreted the post to mean sea levels haven’t risen.
“So much for global warming lol,” one comment said.
However, evidence shows the sea level has risen both in the area and globally.
Dr John Church, Emeritus Professor at the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre, said the sea level was “definitely rising” in the Plymouth area.
He pointed to evidence that the relative sea level trend in nearby Boston was a rise of 2.94 millimetres per year since 1920, a change of about 30 centimetres over the 100 years to 2023, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“This is both because the sea level is rising and the land is sinking,” Dr Church told AAP FactCheck.
Globally, sea levels have risen by about 10cm since 1993, according to NASA.
AFP, AP, and Reuters have also debunked similar claims about Plymouth Rock.
The Verdict
Misleading – The claim is accurate in parts but information has also been presented incorrectly, out of context or omitted.
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