An ordinary dive in search of old bottles has led to an extraordinary archaeological discovery beneath a Wisconsin lake. Mark Schachtner, a diver from Beaver Dam, spotted a partially buried 17-foot dugout canoe while exploring Pewaukee Lake in May. Radiocarbon dating has since established that the vessel is about 1,000 years old. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the canoe dates to the Late Woodland period and is made of white oak. The Society is consulting with Native Nations and archaeological experts to document the discovery, while the canoe will remain submerged rather than being removed from the lake.
Schachtner has been diving in southeastern Wisconsin for about a decade and regularly explores lakes with the Four Seasons Dive Club, often looking for old embossed glass bottles. During a dive in Pewaukee Lake in early May, however, he noticed what appeared to be a much older object resting on the lake bottom. Schachtner told Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) that the canoe was the oldest human-made object he had ever found. He had previously discovered a fossil while diving in another lake, but the canoe represented an entirely different kind of find. The vessel was lying about 15 feet beneath the surface and was partially filled with sediment. Schachtner recognised it as a dugout canoe because he had previously worked with Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society who has studied ancient canoes in Wisconsin. Within days of the discovery, Thomsen joined Schachtner at the site. She and the team recorded measurements, photographs and video and collected wood samples for further analysis. Thomsen described the discovery to WPR as a “beautiful find” and noted that the canoe remained intact on the lake bottom.
The wood was identified as white oak by Michael Wiemann at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Products Laboratory in Madison. The species is also found in several other ancient canoes previously documented in Lake Mendota. A sample was then analysed by Beta Analytic, a radiocarbon-dating laboratory in Miami. The results indicated a 70% probability that the canoe was in use between A.D. 992 and 1049, placing it roughly 1,000 years ago. The period corresponds to Wisconsin's Late Woodland period. Researchers also found evidence of how the canoe was made. Thomsen told WPR that char marks were visible on its underside, while scraping marks appeared consistent with shaping using stone tools or shells. The findings offer clues about the methods used by Indigenous canoe makers during the period.
Thomsen told WPR that the way the vessel was sitting in the sediment was characteristic of a canoe that had been deliberately cached. According to Thomsen, Indigenous people commonly sank canoes into lakebeds and allowed them to fill with sediment. They could later retrieve the vessels, let them dry somewhat and return them to use. This practice would have helped preserve and store heavy wooden canoes that were difficult to move over land. Larry Plucinski, a tribal historic preservation officer for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that dugout canoes were a primary form of transportation during the period and were generally used by the broader community rather than being individually owned. He explained that their weight made them difficult to carry over land, making it practical to leave them near the water for later use. Jon Greendeer, president of the Ho-Chunk Nation, told WPR that the discovery falls within Ho-Chunk territory and that he was excited by the find. He also said that finding canoes and other Indigenous artifacts in the area was not unexpected. Greendeer described canoe construction as a labour-intensive process, noting that the vessels were crafted by carving wood using fire and other tools.
The discovery adds to Wisconsin's growing record of ancient dugout canoes. State archaeologists and volunteers have examined 88 out of 130 known vessels on lake bottoms and within collections across the state, said Thomsen. Thomsen said Wisconsin has half of the top 10 oldest canoes in eastern North America. The Pewaukee Lake canoe is actually the second ancient canoe known to have been found there. According to Thomsen's research into historical newspaper accounts, another canoe was discovered and removed from the lake in the 1930s. Unlike the previously recovered vessels from Lake Mendota, however, the newly identified canoe is not currently being removed. The Wisconsin Historical Society is consulting with Native Nations, including the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the decision is to leave the canoe in place out of respect for Indigenous ancestors. The site is protected under Wisconsin law, and divers are prohibited from removing archaeological objects. Leaving the canoe submerged also protects the fragile wood. The Wisconsin Historical Society notes that an ancient wooden canoe can deteriorate rapidly once exposed to air unless it undergoes an intensive preservation process, such as the treatment used for canoes recovered from Lake Mendota. For now, the 17-foot vessel remains on the bottom of Pewaukee Lake, offering archaeologists and Native Nations another opportunity to study how Indigenous communities lived, travelled and used Wisconsin's waterways roughly a millennium ago.
