Wisconsin divers reveal mysterious underwater parking lot of ancient canoes preserved for millennia

Wisconsin officials recently announced the discovery of a trove ofancient canoesin an underwater “parking lot” of sorts — including one that predates the Pyramids of Giza.

The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) announced this month that its experts have identified 14 canoes in Madison’s Lake Mendota so far, six of which were found this spring.The WHS worked with the First Nations of Wisconsin during the research process, a release noted.

The WHS also recovered a 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in 2021 and retrieved another 3,000-year-old one in 2022.

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All in all, the oldest canoe is 5,200 years old, while the most recent one dates back to the 1300s A.D.The vessels were used to catch fish,make travel more efficientand facilitate trade, the WHS said.

“The landscape around Madison lakes looked very different before European settlers arrived in the area and conducted terraforming to suit modern transportation, with large bluffs that made traveling over the land difficult in some areas,” the statement noted.

The Wisconsin Historical Society is studying the unusually large cache of canoes after identifying 14 vessels preserved beneath Lake Mendota.(Tamara Thomsen, Wisconsin Historical Society;Wisconsin Historical Society)

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“Canoe travel may have been more efficient for certain routes for the communities who lived in the area spanning thousands of years before Wisconsin became a state,” the statement also said. 

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com/category/travel/general/historic-sites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lake Mendotafor thousands of years.

a museum displayat the Wisconsin History Center in 2027.

The canoes survived because they remained buried in deep water for millennia, according to a maritime archaeologist. (Wisconsin Historical Society;Dean Witter, Wisconsin Historical Society)

“The oldest Lake Mendota canoe identified to date was likely crafted sometime around 3000 B.C., before theGreat Pyramid of Gizawas built in Egypt, and around the time of the invention of writing in Sumer,” she added.

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“Constructed of red oak, it is now the oldest dugout canoe recorded from the Great Lakes region and the third oldest in eastern North America.”

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cache of canoesthat has so far been discovered in Wisconsin,” the archaeologist said.

The canoes’ construction reflects early forms of bioengineering long before the modern term existed, said experts. (Wisconsin Historical Society)

The WHS also said the canoes were made of eitherred or white oak— curious choices, as they tend to be water-absorbent.

Thomsen speculated that the builders may have intentionally selected trees that were damaged, or may have damaged them on purpose to impact their growth cycle.

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“We think of bioengineering as a modern practice, but the samples we have suggest this may have been taking place long before the term was coined in the mid-20th century,” she said.

“Archaeology is kind of like putting togetherpieces of a puzzle,and the more pieces you can find, the better you can start to form a picture of what was going on and why during a period of history,” Thomsen added.

“This is the only cache of canoes that has so far been discovered in Wisconsin,” said maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen.(Tamara Thomsen, Wisconsin Historical Society)

Bill Quackenbush, a tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, said the project “gives us a meaningful opportunity to gain a deeper perspective on our heritage and our ancestors.”

He added, “It is important that we document and share these stories, so that our youth feel that connection to our past.”

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“Protecting and preserving this knowledge ensures that the next generation understands where we come from and why these stories matter.That is why we share them and continue this work.”