Riverside students learn history of Native American dugout canoes

Fourth-grade students at Riverside Elementary School in Wisconsin learned about ancient Native American dugout canoes during a visit from two researchers involved in the discoveries, according to the Wausau Daily Herald. Tamera Thomsen, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Sissel Schroeder, the Bradshaw Knight Professor of Environmental Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, spoke with students about Wisconsin’s First Nations and the recovery of 16 dugout canoes from Lake Mendota since 2021.

Radiocarbon dating shows the oldest canoe dates back about 5,200 years, according to the Wausau Daily Herald.