A series of millennia-old canoes unearthed from the bottom of a lake in Wisconsin has sparked renewed interest in Indigenous culture, with the oldest vessel predating the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.
Archaeologist Dr Amy L Rosebrough recalled the moment in June 2021 when her colleague, diver Tamara Thomsen, discovered a sunken dugout canoe in Lake Mendota. Initially thought to be 300 years old, radiocarbon dating revealed it was 1,200 years old. A second canoe found in 2022 proved to be 3,000 years old, and subsequent excavations have uncovered 14 more, with the oldest dating back 5,200 years.
The Wisconsin Historical Society stated that this means Indigenous peoples inhabited the region more than 4,000 years before the first Europeans arrived and 400 years before the earliest Egyptian pyramids were built.
Bill Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, said the discoveries are helping tribe members understand how early peoples navigated the land. The Ho-Chunk, who arrived in the region between 500 and 1200 CE, have been inspired to revive the lost practice of making dugout canoes, launching an annual Dugout Canoe Journey in 2022.
The canoes have also helped reconnect the two Ho-Chunk tribes, one based in Nebraska and the other in Wisconsin. The 2026 journey will begin on 1 June along ancestral waterways, with details to be announced on the Nation's Facebook page.
