Researchers are gaining new insights from 16 ancient canoes that were discovered in Lake Mendota starting in 2021, including the revelation that at least half may have been bio-engineered by ancient Indigenous people.
The term “bioengineering” was coined in the 20th century, but ancient Ho-Chunk and other Indigenous peoples were likely practicing it for thousands of years in Wisconsin.
Half of the canoes discovered are made of red or white oak, which is not ideal for watercraft because oak absorbs water unless it undergoes stress damage to form tyloses — balloon-like structures inside the wood’s vessels that block water movement. This stress damage can happen naturally or through human intervention…