Update on the Scientific Analysis of the Brian D. Jones site in Avon, CT Since its Discovery in 2019
The partnership of the Avon Historical Society, Avon Free Public Library, and Avon Senior Center is pleased to present the fifth lecture in a five-part webinar series entitled “Unearthing History: The Discovery of a 12,500-year-old Paleo-Indian Site along the Farmington River in Avon, CT.”
This fifth lecture will provide an update on the scientific analysis of the over 20,000 artifacts found in the Brian D. Jones Paleo Indian site in Avon, CT, along the Farmington.
It will be introduced by Dr. David Leslie, Director of Archaeological Research, Heritage Consultants, Berlin, CT, and presented by Eric Heffter, Senior Archaeologist, Archaeological and Historic Services, Storrs, CT. Both presenters were part of the discovery and have been hands-on with the analysis ever since. Dr. Leslie recently joined Heritage Consultants, Berlin, CT. Therefore, he will introduce Mr. Heffter, who has taken over the analysis at Archaeological and Historical Services.
Mr. Eric Heffter has over 10 years of experience studying the archaeology and geoarchaeology of North America and Central and Southeastern Europe, working in both cultural resource management and academic settings. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology with minors in Maritime Archaeology and Business from the University of Connecticut and an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. He was a Fulbright scholar in the Republic of Serbia in the Balkans in 2016, where he conducted Paleolithic fieldwork. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Anthropology and a minor in Geosciences from the University of Arizona in 2021. His dissertation analyzed stone tools to gain a better understanding of human population movements in the Balkans during the Early Upper Paleolithic Period. His research interests include lithic analysis, applying GIS to archaeological datasets, Paleolithic Archaeology, and geoarchaeology. Before joining AHS in 2021, Dr. Heffter worked as an archaeologist on various projects at the Mashantucket Museum and Research Center and the University of Massachusetts Archaeological Services and served as a teaching assistant at the University of Arizona. At AHS, he serves as a Senior Archaeologist and is involved with all stages of archaeological investigations, report preparation, and GIS analysis.
The “Unearthing History” series, sponsored by a grant from the Lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Committee, is being held due to the 2019 excavation and discovery of a 12,500-year-old (10,000BCE) Paleo-Indian site six feet below ground during a CT Department of Transportation construction project of the now completed bridge on Old Farms and Waterville Roads at Route 10 in Avon, CT. The survey uncovered more than 20,000 artifacts characteristic of the Early and Middle Paleo-Indian periods. The site is named for Brian D. Jones, the late Connecticut State Archaeologist, who led the effort to dig deep based on earlier excavations in the area over the past few decades. It is now the oldest human occupation site in Southern New England.
According to Dr. Lucianne Lavin, Director of Research and Collections Emeritus of the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, CT, the last Ice Age in this region began to melt away at about 17,500BP (Before the Present). As it receded, a lush new land was exposed that provided for animal life to return about 13,500BP in the form of tundra-grazing animals such as mastodons, mammoths, horses, giant beaver, caribou, and more. The ancient communities of the Paleo-Indians are thought to have begun to arrive in the northeast after that time in search of those animals for food. They were the first settlers of what is now Connecticut and southern New England. (Connecticut’s Indigenous Peoples, by Lucianne Lavin, 2013, Yale University Press)
Partners in this series include the Farmington River Watershed Association, Institute of American Indian Studies, Washington, CT and the Avon Land Trust. A third webinar series will be held in 2023 beginning in March. Full details will be made available soon.
Sign up for the webinar at: www.avonctlibrary.info
