I was surprised really.

So much effort has been diverted from the archeology beneath the US citizens' very feet that I still find it "news" to be reminded that the people here were impressively capable masters of their environment.

I didn't expect that some ancient canoes uncovered in Wisconsin has been dated that far back.  

Archaeologists Found 16 Ancient Canoes Beneath a Wisconsin Lake, Some Older Than the Pyramids

Reportedly, the canoes were part of 'fleet' of canoes - the area was a 'marina' of sorts... in use for an amazingly long time...
 

Quote:....

A Prehistoric Marina

The fleet found in Lake Mendota is striking in its diversity and age. The vessels range from 700 to 5,200 years old. To put that in perspective, the oldest canoe was carved from red oak around 3000 B.C.—roughly the same time ancient Sumerians were inventing writing and centuries before the Egyptians laid the first stone of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

“Constructed of red oak, it is now the oldest dugout canoe recorded from the Great Lakes region,” Tamara Thomsen, Wisconsin’s state maritime archaeologist, told Fox News Digital. She notes that it is likely the third-oldest canoe ever found in eastern North America.

Archaeologists believe this site served as a busy transit hub. Ancient travelers would paddle across the lake, dock their canoes near a network of trails, and continue their journey on foot. Today, the canoes sit under about 8 meters (26 feet) of water, but millennia ago, this spot was a shallow shoreline about 1.2 meters deep, ideal for parking a boat.

“It’s a parking spot that’s been used for millennia, over and over,” Thomsen said in an interview with the Associated Press.

...

Nice.

They make a big deal out of this discovery and it is considering the preserved wood but for my 2 cents worth people were building/using water craft after they saw the first log floating.

(12-11-2025, 02:00 AM)Sky727 Wrote: They make a big deal out of this discovery and it is considering the preserved wood but for my 2 cents worth people were building/using water craft after they saw the first log floating.

Well it was before the flushable toilet!!      

Gadzooks, they found the Bermuda Triangle of canoes!

It seems they were lost over thousands of years. I have seen one in Florida that was thousands of years old in a spring. But this is truly the graveyard of missing canoes.

... OK I know this is a niche article...

But it gives me hope that one day, perhaps in the far future...
archeologists will discover a real holy grail of a discovery...
a sprawling expanse of ancient lost socks...

(12-11-2025, 12:38 PM)Maxmars Wrote: ... OK I know this is a niche article...

But it gives me hope that one day, perhaps in the far future...
archeologists will discover a real holy grail of a discovery...
a sprawling expanse of ancient lost socks...

Speeking of ancient socks, did you know Otzi the guy frozen over 5000 years ago was wearing socks with sandles. It seems socks with sandles is a thing all along.

(12-11-2025, 12:59 PM)BeyondKnowledge Wrote: Speeking of ancient socks, did you know Otzi the guy frozen over 5000 years ago was wearing socks with sandles. It seems socks with sandles is a thing all along.

OK ... this seems like a thing...

a) was Otzi wearing BOTH socks? (there's a conspiracy brewing already)

b) Is it now fair to refer to sandal and sock wearing individuals as "Otzi's"  (I think it might be phonetically hazardous in English at least.)

I'll stop now, before I further embarrass myself  

(12-11-2025, 02:00 AM)Sky727 Wrote: They make a big deal out of this discovery and it is considering the preserved wood but for my 2 cents worth people were building/using water craft after they saw the first log floating.

It's one thing to make the supposition, still another to provide evidence and evidence matters.
What is not being discussed is that dugout watercraft were often purposely sunk for storage.

(12-11-2025, 12:30 AM)Maxmars Wrote: I was surprised really.

So much effort has been diverted from the archeology beneath the US citizens' very feet that I still find it "news" to be reminded that the people here were impressively capable masters of their environment.

I didn't expect that some ancient canoes uncovered in Wisconsin has been dated that far back.  

Archaeologists Found 16 Ancient Canoes Beneath a Wisconsin Lake, Some Older Than the Pyramids

Reportedly, the canoes were part of 'fleet' of canoes - the area was a 'marina' of sorts... in use for an amazingly long time...
 

Nice.

Comparing engineering of the pyramid with canoes, hmmm

(12-11-2025, 05:33 PM)Creaky Wrote: Comparing engineering of the pyramid with canoes, hmmm

It the timing of the advancement that's noteworthy. Not the magnitude of some megalith used as a reference point for dating comparisons.

I was initiated into the world of "native American indigenous tribes" were all primitive savages...

These, for example, understood at least more than "Ugh!"