An Unexpected Discovery At The Barnes Museum – 5,000 Years Of Connecticut Prehistory

A Native American toolkit from the Barnes Museum NADIA DILLON PHOTOS

The passion that Bradley Barnes, last owner of the Barnes homestead, had for historical artifacts explains why the Barnes Museum is so full of treasures today. In June 2021, while exploring the attic at the Barnes, I found one of these treasures. My eye was caught by what I thought at first was jewelry. I rushed over to discover a case containing over 70 Native American projectile points. The glimmer came from quartz, the mineral from which projectile points are made. Drawing on my recently completed degree in Anthropology/Archaeology, I made it my mission to identify every single point and tell the story of its origins and its place in Connecticut’s Native American prehistory.

The find was a surprise because, as far as we know, the Barnes family of Southington had no Native American ties. However, Bradley Barnes did have a summer home in the Indian Cove neighborhood of Guilford called ‘Rock Edge.’ It is believed that he found many of those projectile points along the beach there.

How To Date The Points

I first needed to date these artifacts. There are two types of dating methods; absolute dating  and relative dating. People might think that getting an absolute date from radiocarbon dating would be the method I used.

However, radiocarbon dating can only identify the time period of a living organism. All living things contain carbon 14 when they take in air. When they die, they stop absorbing it. Radiocarbon dating measures the decay of this carbon, and from it, the time that has passed since the living thing died. You can use this method for soil, plants, seeds, shells, textiles, and the remains of both humans and animals. But you cannot use it for projectile points because the stone they are made from was never alive.

Fortunately, relative dating can be just as accurate. This is the method I used. It involved matching the projectile points with similar artifacts from others sites whose absolute dates are known. Through this process, the collection was show to contain projectile points belonging to cultures that were around up to 5,000 years ago.

Late Archaic Projectile Points

The oldest artifacts belonged to the Late Archaic Period, which ran from 5000 BC to 3000 BC. During that time, Native Americans in Connecticut sustained themselves by foraging for nuts, fruits, and wild plants, as well as hunting deer and other small mammals and fishing. They processed their food by baking, roasting, and drying it. They lived in seasonal base camps with smaller temporary campsites along the Connecticut and Farmington Rivers.

There were two distinct populations at the time. The first, the Laurentian people, settled near rivers and lakes. They resided in base camps with man-made pole structures, but also occupied seasonal rock shelters and temporary open-air camps. These rock shelters can still be found across Connecticut at sites such as Chatfield Hollow State Park in Killingworth and Peoples State Forest in Barkhamsted.

The projectile points from this time are called Brewerton Notched Points. They are identified by notches on their stems, a slightly concave base, and an expanded stem. They were primarily used as spear points for hunting large mammals, though some were also used as knives. Most of the projectile points from Connecticut were made of quartz and chert. They are also commonly found in New England, New York, and the Ohio Valley.

Brewerton Notched Points from the Barnes Museum

The other population from this time, the Narrow Point people, settled in various micro-environments – open-air camps, quarries, highlands, shell middens, and rock shelters. Their lithics include Lamoka and Squibnocket points made of local quartz and quartzite. Lamoka points are small, with an expanding stem and straight base. Like the Laurentian points, they are found in New England and the Ohio Valley and were used as dart points attached to a spear. Squibnocket points can be either stemmed or triangular. The stemmed points are thin with a long stem and a base that curves outward. The triangular points can be equilateral or isosceles, with a concave base. Both types were used as dart points attached to spears.

Lamoka Points from the Barnes

Points From The Terminal Archaic

During the Terminal Archaic period, which ran from 3000 BC to 1000 BC, Native Americans expanded trading along the rivers and coasts of Connecticut to obtain exotic materials from distant regions. The two main traditions were the Narrow Point Tradition and the Susquehanna/Broad Spear Tradition. Although they belong to the same time period, archaeologists continue to debate whether the two traditions were truly separate, as they had been in the Late Archaic.

The Narrow Point people were descendants of the Late Archaic, living in similar dwellings and areas as their predecessors, with their camps organized by labor. They continued to use Squibnocket and Lamoka points with spears launched by an atlatl.

Squibnocket Points from the Barnes

The Susquehanna/Broad Spear tradition evolved from the Laurentian tradition. Peoples from this tradition settled near rivers and lakes, which made trading easier. They were known for their Snook Kill and Orient points, which were used as knives, scrapers, and spears.

Snook Kill Projectile Points from the Barnes

The Late Woodland Era

A few projectile points were also found dating to the Late Woodland period, which spans the years 1000 BC to 1500 AD. During this time, the indigenous people settled in permanent, year-round settlements where they grew crops and hunted small mammals. They often lived near marshlands and estuaries, and developed extensive trade networks with European settlers that spanned most of North America. Their main crops were corn, beans, and squash, also known as the “three sisters.” Food was cooked in clay vessels.

This is the period when projectile points began to be used as true arrowheads. The Levanna point, one of the earliest examples of this, was attached to an arrow shot by a bow. These points can be recognized by their straight edges and concave bases:

Levana Points from the Barnes

We also found drill points, knives, and scrapers in the Barnes Museum collection. Drill points and awls had many uses. Traditionally they were employed to burr holes in wood for furniture. They were also used to make holes in clothing and for sewing. They were often reworked from projectile points that had became dull and no longer had enough material to sharpen.

Scrapers and knives had related purposes. A scraper would help cut the fatty tissue away from an animal hide so that the hide could be used as textiles. They were also employed for woodworking. Knives could also serve as scrapers, but unlike scrapers, they were used for hunting, skinning animals, and cutting meat:

Left to right: curated drill point (black flint), two drill points or awls (chert), scraper (red jasper), three knives/scrapers (chert)

This collection of projectile points not only reflects Bradley Barnes’s passion for preserving history but also provides a rare window into the lifeways of Connecticut’s earliest inhabitants. As tools used for hunting, farming, and daily survival they offer evidence of evolving trade networks and cultural traditions, and tell a story that stretches back thousands of years. By uncovering and studying them, we ensure that the voices of the region’s Native American past remain part of the broader history preserved within the Barnes Museum.

Missing No More: Remains Of Southington WWII Airman Recovered

The WWII Memorial on Southington's Green PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO

On the night of March 22, 1945, six weeks before Nazi Germany surrendered, a fleet of B-17G ‘Flying Fortress’ bombers belonging to the 429^th Bombardment Squadron, 2^nd Bombardment Group, took off from an airfield in Italy to begin a long, hazardous journey northward.

On board one of those B-17s was Technical Sergeant Donald Arthur Dorman. Dorman, who was born in Meriden and grew up in Southington, had enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Forces in 1942. An upper turret gunner, he was tasked with defending his plane from enemy fighters using a mounted pair of .50 caliber machine guns. He was 21 years old, and about to embark on his final flight.

The squadron’s mission that night was to bomb an oil refinery in the southeast corner of Germany, not far from the border with Poland. As it approached its target, Dorman’s plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The crew steered the plane east, hoping to make an emergency landing on Russian-controlled territory in Poland. The plane was then struck again by fire from German fighter planes. Some crew members managed to parachute out before the crash. Two who made it safely to the ground before being taken prisoner were the sole surviving witnesses to the ordeal.

The other eight crew members were officially listed as MIA because their bodies were never found. And that is where Dorman’s story stood – until this past September.

A Boeing B-17G 'Flying Fortress': Dorman operated the gun turret behind the pilots' cabin. PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The Recovery

In the decades after WWII, the task of recovering the remains of U.S. military personnel who were designated MIA belonged to the American Graves Registration Command. As the Cold War intensified, cooperation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union ground to a halt, which hampered efforts by the Command to look for the remains of the missing in Soviet-controlled Poland. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, the possibility of finding identifiable remains seemed very remote indeed.

But in the late 1990’s, advances in genetic testing made it possible to reconstruct an individual’s genetic profile from microscopic fragments of organic material. With the arrival of this new technology, hopes of identifying remains rose again. The search for remains was renewed in 2008. The first order of business was to find the crash site. Four years later, investigators determined that a B-17 had crashed near the Polish village of Glinica in 1945.

In 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency contracted with Alta Archaeological Consulting of Santa Rosa, California, to excavate at the site of the crash. This past summer, a 20-person team of volunteers and paid staff performed the back-breaking work of shoveling clay into buckets and sifting it to look for fragments of the plane and signs of the crew. This article from the Arizona Daily Star offers an illustrated account of their efforts.

The archaeologists found what they were looking for: not just pieces of the bomber, but the remains of multiple individuals. The remains were sent to the Agency’s laboratory for analysis. Fortunately, they contained enough DNA to yield full genetic sequences. The next step was to sample DNA from the relatives of the eight missing crew members so that the sequences could be compared and family connections established.

Of the matches that were made, one involved a cousin of Dorman, who still lives in Southington. On September 19 of this year, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that the remains of Technical Sergeant Donald A. Dorman had been identified. Dorman is MIA no longer.

Dorman's name on the Town's WWII memorial PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO 

The Return

News of the identification first reached Rachel Wache, the chair of Southington’s Veterans Committee, while she was at the Apple Harvest Festival. There an old acquaintance came up to her and said, “Rachel, I have something very interesting that you might want to see.” Pulling out her phone, she showed the official announcement to Wache. The woman with the phone was Sergeant Dorman’s cousin.

Wache had the honor of announcing this discovery to the Veterans Committee at their monthly meeting at the Calendar House. She is working now to coordinate the return of the remains and the burial ceremony. A local funeral home and the American Legion have been contacted, as well as the Southington Historical Society and Southington's school system, in the hope that their archives may contain more information about Dorman.

Wache says that she has been informed by the Department of Defense that they will not be taking any further actions in the case until sometime next year. When the remains are released, a military funeral will be held with full honors. Donald’s mother was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, so the tentative plan is to bury him there.

The Southington Outsider will update this story further as it develops.

Board of Finance Weighs Funding For Fire & Other Key Services

Southington Fire Department's Engine Company No. 5 PETER PROHASKA PHOTOS

Family members were in attendance at Southington Town Hall on November 19 to witness the official beginning of a new term, leading Chairman John Leary to joke that the room was about as crowded as Board of Finance meetings ever get.

Yet even if it receives less attention than other elected bodies, the Board has serious responsibilities. Its members are responsible for approving various forms of spending and overseeing the management of Southington’s finances, including investments, audits, past due sewer bills and tax refunds. As Thursday’s meeting showed, it also has to consider matters of public safety and civic society. With state and federal funding in flux, proper management of Southington’s fiscal health remains an ongoing challenge.

The meeting commenced with an unusual procedural move. This month’s elections gave the Board three Republican members and three Democrats. Leary, a Republican and long-time member of the Board, proposed splitting the officers evenly over the term. For the first year, the three Republicans will serve as Chair, Vice-Chair (Joseph Labieniec) and Secretary (Ed Pocock, Jr.). Those roles will switch to duly-nominated Democrats half way through the two-year term of office.

Even though this was the first meeting of the term, the Board’s agenda was a busy one. Leary took time to explain many of the key functions of the Board for colleagues such as Democrats Stephen Salerno and Katie Wade, who are starting their first terms, and for members of the public, who can watch video of the meeting or view its minutes via the Town of Southington website.

Newly-elected Board member Steve Salerno receives a pin, welcoming him to his term.

Following that introduction, Republican Registrar of Voters Tammy Thompson came before the Board to describe issues that strained the resources of her office during the past election season. She said she had personally worked over 90 hours one week, despite receiving a yearly salary of just $23,000. She attributed much of this overtime work to mandates from Hartford around early voting, as well as the recount and state-required audits.

In response to her concerns, Leary scheduled a series of workshops to figure out how best to fund and support the staffers who make elections possible.

A second presentation, from Southington’s Interim Fire Chief Scott Lee, highlighted the difficulties of providing adequate emergency services coverage in a town that is growing in infrastructure and population. One major problem, Lee said, is that there hasn’t been an equal growth in the number of individuals willing to serve as volunteer firefighters, even with financial incentives put in place by the Town.

Like many Connecticut communities, Southington Fire Department relies on local volunteers to provide support for its professional, full-time staff. Lee, drawing on a 2025 report from Connecticut State Comptroller Sean Scanlon as well as his own data, showed that Southington’s volunteer pool has significantly diminished in recent years, jut as it has in many towns across the state. Lee described a 23 percent decline in volunteers around the nation and an even sharper 75 percent decline in Southington. Scanlon’s report calls the firefighting situation a “statewide crisis.”

Lee explained that the National Fire Protection Association develops staffing standards that are not always required by law but can serve as best practices for fire prevention. To meet those minimum coverage standards, and those recommended by the Town’s outside consultant, the Chief requested the Board of Finance support funding for several professional positions over the next two fiscal years. For FY 2026, Lee is hoping to hire and train three additional firefighters. For the next year, he also asked for an Inspector Firefighter, who can help with duties that include retention and recruitment. Lee is also seeking a Mechanic position for FY 2027, making the case that having an in-house mechanic would provide significant cost savings for needed equipment maintenance.

Lee mentioned that while attracting entry-level firefighters is feasible, as they gain in experience they are often lost to towns that are able to pay higher salaries or offer more enticing benefits.

One source of funding for staff is federal SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grants. These grants, which are administered by FEMA, have not gone to a Connecticut community since 2023, according to FEMA’s website. Southington received a SAFER grant of just over $1 million for hiring purposes back in FY 2020. But Southington did not receive requested funds this cycle, as Ed Costello, of Southington’s Board of Fire Commissioners, reported.

Speaking against increasing the firefighting budget was Southington resident Al Urso, who said he had been a volunteer himself. He came forward with criticisms of the Fire Department’s current deployment. In particular, he said a common shift structure — the so-called 24-72 shift, in which one is on call for 24 hours and then receives three days off — produces excess overtime and unnecessary coverage.

Urso contrasted Southington’s service needs with those of larger communities such as New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury, while noting that Newington, for one, made do with a smaller force.

“It’s ridiculous for a town this size to have a (24-72) shift,” said Urso. He encouraged the Board to take a look at station locations, types of calls, and shift structure before funding the positions.

Making the case for additional firefighters was volunteer fireman Andrew Rennie, who serves as Lieutenant for Engine Company One. He said he joined the Fire Department shortly after moving to Southington from Massachusetts and has embraced the work. However, he stressed, the risks of the calling are real; adequate staffing levels provide safety for the public and Department members alike.

“When we show up on the scene,” Rennie said, “Chief Lee wants us to be able to turn around and go back to our families.”

Those interested in serving the community are encouraged to contact the Fire Department.

The Board of Finance is scheduled to meet again on December 10.