The Wisconsin Historical Society has mapped 16 submerged dugout canoes in Lake Mendota, dating from about 3000 BCE (≈5,200 years ago) to roughly 700 years old. Many are carved from red or white oak and cluster in two distinct groupings that match ancient travel routes, suggesting communal storage and shared use. Artifacts such as net sinkers support interpretations of sustained fishing and transport networks. Researchers are documenting and protecting the site in partnership with First Nations and university collaborators to better understand long-term Indigenous waterway use.
Archaeologists Map 16 Prehistoric Dugout Canoes in Lake Mendota, Including a 5,200-Year-Old Vessel
The Wisconsin Historical Society has mapped 16 submerged dugout canoes in Lake Mendota, dating from about 3000 BCE (≈5,200 years ago) to roughly 700 years old. Many are carved from red or white oak and cluster in two distinct groupings that match ancient travel routes, suggesting communal storage and shared use. Artifacts such as net sinkers support interpretations of sustained fishing and transport networks. Researchers are documenting and protecting the site in partnership with First Nations and university collaborators to better understand long-term Indigenous waterway use.
02:30 PM, 11/20/2025Culture
The waters of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, have yielded a remarkable cluster of prehistoric watercraft that illuminate centuries of indigenous travel and fishing practices in the Great Lakes region.
Researchers with the Wisconsin Historical Society have identified and mapped 16 submerged dugout canoes, with ages estimated between roughly 5,200 years (about 3000 BCE) and 700 years. The oldest canoe, carved from red oak and dated to around 3000 BCE, is now the oldest dugout canoe recorded in the Great Lakes and the third-oldest documented in eastern North America.
Discoveries and Context
Following the unexpected recovery of a 1,200-year-old dugout in 2021, the research team continued systematic sonar mapping and survey work. On November 19, 2025, the Wisconsin Historical Society announced that surveyors had located 14 additional submerged canoes for a total of 16. The project recorded the location, probable age, and wood type for each vessel.
Materials and Preservation
About half of the canoes are carved from red or white oak. Archaeologists suggest oak was often selected because certain internal features of the wood can slow decay under waterlogged conditions, improving long-term preservation. In some of the vessels, the team also documented fishing net sinkers and other artifacts consistent with fishing and transport use.
Settlement, Travel Networks, and Community Use
The canoes cluster in two distinct groupings on the lakebed. When mapped against Indigenous trailways and shoreline features, these concentrations suggest the sites functioned as communal storage or docking locations where watercraft were kept and shared among community members—rather than as individually owned boats. The Society compared this arrangement to modern shared-transport systems to illustrate how communities might have managed access and movement.
“Archaeology is kind of like putting together pieces 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,” said Tamara Thomsen, maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society. “We can’t go back in time to get answers to our questions, but we can examine the available data alongside knowledge from First Nations and cultural history to form theories to answer our questions.”
The findings point to a sophisticated travel network, deep environmental knowledge, and long-term continuity in how communities moved, traded and fished on regionally important waterways long before European settlement reshaped the landscape.
“The canoes give us insight into a sophisticated travel network and interconnected communities who used their incredible skills and knowledge to live and thrive on lands where we still live and thrive today,” said Larry Plucinski, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. “They reflect a deep relationship with the environment and the ingenuity of our ancestors.”
Researchers are working closely with First Nations of Wisconsin and academic partners, including University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Sissel Schroeder, to document and protect the site. The effort aims to preserve the canoes in situ where possible, record detailed information about construction and context, and share findings in collaboration with tribal partners and descendant communities.
“Lake Wingra holds deep spiritual significance for the Ho-Chunk people, whose ancestral lands surround its shores,” said Dr. Amy Rosebrough, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society. “For generations, the Ho-Chunk have honored this place through ceremonies of remembrance, guidance and peace.”
Ongoing work will refine age estimates, wood identifications and contextual interpretation. By combining archaeological data with Indigenous knowledge and historic landscape studies, researchers hope to better understand how waterways shaped movement, economy and cultural connections across millennia in the Great Lakes region.