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protect their interests and
halt construction. In

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recent days, divers
announced the discovery of

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a 150 year old shipwreck in
Lake Michigan. The Lac La

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Belle steamer ship sank in
1872, in Madison.

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Historical underwater
discoveries date much, much

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older. Of the 16 ancient
canoes found in Lake

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Mendota, the oldest is 1200
years old, dating back to

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indigenous water travel
"Here& Now", and ICT

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00:00:36,737 --> 00:00:40,541
reporter Erica Ayisi tracks
their discovery and

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preservation.
>> Here you can see how the

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contour lines are a little
bit flatter. We made it to

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this turnaround and that's
where the canoe was. Lots

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of cool stuff you can find
in the lake. Just got to go

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look.
>> Tamara Thomsen maritime

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00:01:01,528 --> 00:01:03,597
archeologist for the
Wisconsin Historical

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Society, went on a
recreational dive to the

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bottom of Lake Mendota in
2021 to collect fishermen

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debris and told a colleague
she saw a long slope

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exposed through 24ft of
water.

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>> You know, I really think
that was a dugout canoe. I

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don't think that that was
that was just a random

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piece of wood on the bottom.
But we should get another

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tank and we should go out.
And I think I can find it

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again.
>> But only the top portion

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was exposed. So the bottom
was still covered with silt

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and it was just pristine.
And it was so nice that I

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thought, well, it can't be
old.

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archeologists pulled the
canoe from the lake and

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through radiocarbon data
analysis, found it to be

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1200 years old or Jung two
Moore very, very ancient

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canoes were found a year
later.

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00:01:53,847 --> 00:01:56,717
>> One ended up being 3000
years old, which is

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recovered in in the tank.
And then we found another

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one next to it, a little
bit shorter, 2000 years old.

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00:02:02,556 --> 00:02:05,325
>> Thompson says the canoes
are at least 15ft long and

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made of cottonwood, elm and
oak.

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>> Red oak is very porous,
and so they they would have

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had to understand how to
seal that cellular

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00:02:17,271 --> 00:02:19,573
structure in the canoe when
they were building it, in

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00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:21,375
order to make the vessel
watertight.

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00:02:21,441 --> 00:02:25,913
>> A total of 16 canoes
were found in Lake Mendota

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00:02:28,715 --> 00:02:33,353
between 2022 and 2025. The
oldest is 5200 years old.

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00:02:33,420 --> 00:02:36,290
>> To put yourself in that
place and think what were

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00:02:36,356 --> 00:02:38,492
what were these people like?
What were they doing in

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00:02:38,559 --> 00:02:41,061
these canoes? And then why
are all these canoes in

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this one spot?
>> So at what point in this

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00:02:43,864 --> 00:02:46,433
did you start reaching out
to Wisconsin's native

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00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:48,168
nations?
>> Before any of the canoes

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00:02:48,235 --> 00:02:51,205
were recovered? There was
consultation with with the

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00:02:51,271 --> 00:02:53,974
native nations of Wisconsin.
>> Lawrence Plucinski,

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00:02:54,041 --> 00:02:56,376
Tribal historic
preservation officer for

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00:02:56,443 --> 00:02:59,246
the bad River Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa, helped

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00:02:59,313 --> 00:03:01,782
with the preservation
process. When the second

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00:03:01,849 --> 00:03:05,285
canoe was pulled from the
lake, he says his ancestors

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00:03:05,352 --> 00:03:08,922
used inland waterways as
transportation between one

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00:03:08,989 --> 00:03:12,192
side of the lake to the
other to harvest, hunt, and

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fish.
>> You couldn't carry much

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00:03:14,428 --> 00:03:17,798
because they weren't like
the total dugout type

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00:03:17,865 --> 00:03:20,133
canoes, you know, some were
more leveler.

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00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,370
>> So what does that mean?
The fact that they didn't

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00:03:23,437 --> 00:03:26,039
carry and take them with
them, they were left there.

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00:03:26,106 --> 00:03:28,442
>> The canoes were not
owned by each individual or

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whatever. It was like a
community.

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00:03:30,544 --> 00:03:33,814
>> There are no plans to
move the remaining 14

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canoes that are sitting
here at the bottom of Lake

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00:03:36,783 --> 00:03:39,486
Mendota. In a decision made
collaboratively between

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00:03:39,553 --> 00:03:42,422
Thompson and Wisconsin's
native nations with the

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00:03:42,489 --> 00:03:45,225
goal of responsible
stewardship.

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>> We're not in the
business of bringing up the

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canoes, especially the
shape that they were in.

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They were they were broke
apart in your hand if you

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brought them up.
>> The two extracted canoes

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are sitting in a makeshift
tank filled with

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00:03:57,638 --> 00:04:00,674
polyethylene glycol at the
State Preservation Facility

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00:04:00,741 --> 00:04:04,378
in Madison to stabilize the
fragile but heavy wood and

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00:04:04,444 --> 00:04:07,147
then freeze dry them.
>> Any water that's left in

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00:04:07,214 --> 00:04:09,383
the cellular structure will
be taken off.

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00:04:09,449 --> 00:04:11,885
>> One canoe will be stored
at the preservation

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00:04:11,952 --> 00:04:14,855
facility, and the other
will be on display at the

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00:04:14,922 --> 00:04:17,891
upcoming Wisconsin History
Center, where Plucinski

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00:04:17,958 --> 00:04:20,928
says their indigenous
history can be preserved.

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00:04:20,994 --> 00:04:23,931
>> Let our knowledge be
told, you know, let our our

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00:04:23,997 --> 00:04:27,367
history be told of how we
traveled.

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00:04:27,434 --> 00:04:31,672
>> In Madison. I'm Eric
>> In Madison. I'm Eric