Archaeologists find ancient canoes used by Indigenous people in Wisconsin

Sixteen submerged canoes discovered along Lake Mendota's shore at a kind of prehistoric parking lot

Archaeologists have identified more than a dozen ancient canoes that Indigenous people apparently left behind in a sort of prehistoric parking lot along a Wisconsin lakeshore.

The Wisconsin Historical Society announced Wednesday that archaeologists have mapped the location of 16 canoes submerged in the lake bed of Lake Mendota in Madison. Tamara Thomsen, the state's maritime archaeologist, said the site lies near a network of what were once Indigenous trails, suggesting ancient people left the canoes there for anyone to use as they traveled, much like a modern-day e-bike rack.