What started with the discovery of two ancient canoes in Lake Mendota in southern Wisconsin now tells a much bigger story of the history of native people in the region.
Researchers now believe there are the remains of at least 10 canoes at the site, and possibly 11.
Radiocarbon dating results indicated the oldest canoe in the Lake Mendota cache is approximately 4,500 years old—making it the oldest dugout canoe now recorded in the Great Lakes.
“It is an honor for our team to work alongside the Native Nations to document, research and share these incredible stories from history,” said Dr. Amy Rosebrough, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society. “What we thought at first was an isolated discovery in Lake Mendota has evolved into a significant archaeological site with much to tell us about the people who lived and thrived in this area over thousands of years and also provides new evidence for major environmental shifts over time.”
The Society will not attempt to recover any additional canoes from the site due to their fragile condition.
Rosebrough believes the goal now is to preserve the site in place.
“Seeing these canoes with one’s own eyes is a powerful experience, and they serve as a physical representation of what we know from extensive oral traditions that Native scholars have passed down over generations,” said Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation Bill Quackenbush, who focuses on heritage preservation and also specializes in using ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology to research ancestral sites. “We are excited to learn all we can from this site using the technology and tools available to us, and to continue to share the enduring stories and ingenuity of our ancestors.”
Quackenbush furthered the research with his ground penetrating radar (GPR) expertise, which is a non-invasive technology frequently used by Native Nations on land to identify ancestral burial sites. Quackenbush was joined by Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Larry Plucinski, and members of the Wisconsin Historical Society archaeology team, to conduct an experimental GPR study on the frozen lake in the winter of 2022 and early 2023. Quackenbush is working to interpret lakebed anomalies that were discovered, and additional GPR studies are planned for the future as ice conditions allow.
