Mark Schachtner was just about to wrap up his dive session in Wisconsin’s Pewaukee Lake when he spotted a long object resting on the lake floor. Intrigued, Schachtner swam closer and began to inspect the mysterious object. Within a few seconds, he realized he was looking at a canoe, possibly an extremely old one.
Now, experts with the Wisconsin Historical Society have determined that the vessel is a roughly 1,000-year-old dugout canoe, likely handcrafted and used by Indigenous communities in the late 10th or early 11th century.
Numerous dugout canoes have been found throughout Wisconsin, including 16 in an ancient canoe “parking lot” in Lake Mendota, near the state capital Madison. But the newly discovered vessel is believed to be the first found in Pewaukee Lake, a 2,437-acre, spring-fed body of water located in Waukesha County, on the western outskirts of Milwaukee…