Wisconsin divers reveal mysterious underwater parking lot of ancient canoes preserved for millennia

29 Nov 2025 By foxnews

Wisconsin officials recently announced the discovery of a trove of ancient canoes in an underwater "parking lot" of sorts - including one that predates the Pyramids of Giza.

The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) announced this month that its experts have identified 14 canoes in Madison's Lake Mendota so far, six of which were found this spring. The WHS worked with the First Nations of Wisconsin during the research process, a release noted.

The WHS also recovered a 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in 2021 and retrieved another 3,000-year-old one in 2022.

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All in all, the oldest canoe is 5,200 years old, while the most recent one dates back to the 1300s A.D. The vessels were used to catch fish, make travel more efficient and facilitate trade, the WHS said.

"The landscape around Madison lakes looked very different before European settlers arrived in the area and conducted terraforming to suit modern transportation, with large bluffs that made traveling over the land difficult in some areas," the statement noted.

"Canoe travel may have been more efficient for certain routes for the communities who lived in the area spanning thousands of years before Wisconsin became a state," the statement also said.

WHS maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen told Fox News Digital the canoes were preserved by being buried under Lake Mendota for thousands of years.

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"The canoes have all been found eroding from a bank underwater, in about 25 feet of water," said Thomsen. "They survived because they remained buried for so many millennia."

There are no current plans to retrieve the 14 canoes that remain underwater, Thomsen added. The two that have been retrieved, however, are slated to be included in a museum display at the Wisconsin History Center in 2027.

"The oldest Lake Mendota canoe identified to date was likely crafted sometime around 3000 B.C., before the Great Pyramid of Giza was built in Egypt, and around the time of the invention of writing in Sumer," she added.

"Constructed of red oak, it is now the oldest dugout canoe recorded from the Great Lakes region and the third oldest in eastern North America."

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The cache is rare in the Midwest, as such discoveries are more common in the Southeast.

"This is the only cache of canoes that has so far been discovered in Wisconsin," the archaeologist said.

The WHS also said the canoes were made of either red or white oak - curious choices, as they tend to be water-absorbent.

Thomsen speculated that the builders may have intentionally selected trees that were damaged, or may have damaged them on purpose to impact their growth cycle.

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"We think of bioengineering as a modern practice, but the samples we have suggest this may have been taking place long before the term was coined in the mid-20th century," she said.

"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," Thomsen added.

Bill Quackenbush, a tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, said the project "gives us a meaningful opportunity to gain a deeper perspective on our heritage and our ancestors."

He added, "It is important that we document and share these stories, so that our youth feel that connection to our past."

"Protecting and preserving this knowledge ensures that the next generation understands where we come from and why these stories matter. That is why we share them and continue this work."