Photos: View ancient dugout canoes found in Pewaukee Lake and Lake Mendota
A 1,000-year-old dugout canoe was found in May in Pewaukee Lake and adds to the 16 others found in the last five years in Lake Mendota.
Mark Schachtner in Pewaukee Lake 3
Mark Schachtner has been diving for about 10 years and typically finds vintage, glass beer bottles, anchors and trash. But in May, the Beaver Dam man was diving in 15 feet of water in Pewaukee Lake when he found a dugout canoe.
Pewaukee Lake dugout canoe 4
This composite image of a 1,000-year-old dugout canoe in Pewaukee Lake was created by digitally stitching multiple photographs together to create a single image. The canoe will remain in the lake.
Pewaukee Lake dugout canoe 1
This dugout canoe was discovered in Pewaukee Lake in May by Mark Schachtner, a recreational diver from Beaver Dam. The 17-foot-long canoe is estimated to be 1,000 years old and, like some of the dugout canoes found in Lake Mendota, is made of white oak.
Pewaukee Lake dugout canoe 6
This 1,000-year-old dugout canoe in Pewaukee Lake was likely in use when the Mississippian culture was flourishing in what is known as the Late Woodland period, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Dugout canoe 2
The 1,200-year-old dugout canoe was raised from Lake Mendota in early November 2021 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The canoe was discovered during a spring recreational dive and was the first of what would become 16 canoes discovered submerged along the Shorewood hills shoreline.
Canoes
Scott Roller, collections manager for the Wisconsin Historical Society, adds polyethylene glycol to a tank holding a pair of ancient Native American dugout canoes and pieces from other canoes recovered from Lake Mendota. The two-year glycol process that started in February 2024 at the State Archive Preservation Facility is designed to push water out of the ancient wood so that the canoes can one day be put on permanent display. And yes, that's an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in the background.
Nine more dugout canoes identified
Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, looks out over the stretch of Lake Mendota where several ancient canoes have been identified. Thomsen discovered intact canoes in 2021 and 2022. Recently analyzed fragments from the same site near Shorewood Hills has revealed the presence of up to nine more canoes, one estimated to be 4,500 years old.
Photo3
Tamara Thomsen treats two dugout canoes and fragments from several canoes found in Lake Mendota. The ancient wood pieces are undergoing a preservation process to stabilize the wood before it is freeze-dried and prepared for public display.
Photo5
One of the fragments of a dugout canoe pulled from Lake Mendota near where two other more intact canoes were discovered in 2021 and 2022.
James Skibo
James Skibo inspects a 3,000-year-old dugout canoe after it was transported from Lake Mendota to the State Archive Preservation Facility on Madison's Near East Side. The canoe, and another 1,200-year-old canoe found in 2021, are both undergoing a multiyear preservation.
Ancient canoe
A dugout canoe built 3,000 years ago by Ho-Chunk people was found about 300 yards from the spot where archaeologist and diver Tamara Thomsen also found a 1,200-year-old canoe.
Another ancient canoe found in Lake Mendota
This series of photographs shows the 3,000-year-old dugout canoe on the bottom of Lake Mendota.
Ancient canoe
Tamara Thomsen, center, found the 3,000-year-old dugout canoe in May and helped bring the historic artifact to shore on Thursday. Thomsen also found a 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in 2021 about 300 yards from where this canoe was found.
More ancient canoes found in Lake Mendota
Bill Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, gets a closer look in 2022 at Spring Harbor Beach at the 3,000-year-old dugout canoe pulled from Lake Mendota. Quackenbush has used ground penetrating radar to study the lake bottom in search of more canoes and other archeological evidence.
Dugout canoe scanned
This 1,200-year-old dugout canoe found in June and pulled from Lake Mendota in early November was temporarily removed in March from a preservation tank so it could be scanned to make 3-D images of the historic watercraft.
Dugout canoe
Divers converged on Lake Mendota Tuesday to recover a dugout canoe that hadn't been to the surface in 1,200 years.
James Skibo
Tamara Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist who discovered the Native American dugout canoe in June 2021 in Lake Mendota, celebrates the recovery with James Skibo, Wisconsin's state archaeologist. The canoe was placed in an enclosed trailer for its trip from Spring Harbor Beach to the State Archive Preservation Facility on Madison's Near East Side.
Dugout canoe
A dugout canoe crafted in A.D. 800 was towed in early November for most of its 1-mile trip to shore but guided by divers in shallow water for the final 100 yards or so to Spring Harbor Beach.
Pewaukee Lake dugout canoe 2
Visitors to Pewaukee Lake in gather on the eastern shore of the 2,493-acre lake, the largest in Waukesha County. For centuries, the lakeshore was home to Indigenous people, like the Potawatomi in the 1800s and other Native Americans during the Late Woodland Period more than 1,000 years ago.
Dugout canoe
Divers converged on Lake Mendota Tuesday to recover a dugout canoe that hadn't been to the surface in 1,200 years.
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