Maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society Tamara Thomsen, recounts a day of scuba diving in Lake Mendota in 2021 with her colleague Mallory Dragt when she discovered a dugout canoe.
Shortly after the discovery, she returned with at the time, terrestrial archeologist Amy Rosebrough. Rosebrough and the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Ho-Chunk, William Quackenbush, played a major role in identifying that the discovered canoe may be of indigenous importance, according to Thomsen.
After using a sample of the canoe for wood identification and radiocarbon dating, the canoe was identified to be 1,200 years old, Thomsen said…