Paddling through history
- On 02/08/2008
- In Underwater Archeology
- 0 comments
From The Gazette
Archaeologists hope tests will determine age of Amerindian dugout canoe found at bottom of Quebec lake in 1986.
Since its discovery on the bottom of a lake north of Montreal more than 20 years ago, an amazingly well-preserved and possibly prehistoric dugout canoe has sparked debate among archaeologists.
The debate has focused on whether the vessel was hollowed out of a massive white pine by Amerindians using stone tools and fire in the 1400s, making it a rare example of dugout technology in the St. Lawrence River valley before the European conquest.
Or whether the five-metre-long vessel was made later, in the 1500s to 1600s by Amerindians, perhaps using technology and metal tools belonging to French colonists who had a history with dugouts in Europe.
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