On Thursday, September 22 archeologists and volunteers from the Wisconsin Historical Society excavated a 3,000 year old canoe from Lake Mendota located in Madison, Wisconsin.

     What was supposed to be a nice day for teaching a diving lesson, turned into a historic finding of an ancient canoe that is dated back to 1000 B.C, according to radiocarbon dating.

     The 3,000 year old canoe was discovered by Tamara Thompsen, an archeologist who was diving near the shoreline of Lake Mendota. The canoe was found nearly 300 yards from the canoe that was discovered in June of 2021.

     President Marlon WhiteEagle and other members of the Ho-Chunk Nation and Bad River Tribe were present for the historic event.

     This momentous finding is very important for the Ho-Chunk people as it provides evidence and insight that Indigenous people were occupying the Teejop area.

     The canoe was carefully transported to the State Archival Preservation Facility, where cleaning of the canoe began. It is estimated to take two years to preserve and restore it.