New tests confirm Lake Minnetonka canoe is 1,000 years old

[geardaddy]

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/254654311.html
A long-neglected American Indian dugout canoe is suddenly the main attraction at a Long Lake museum.

New tests show that the old canoe, unearthed from Lake Minnetonka 80 years ago, is more valuable and rare than first thought — estimated to be nearly 1,000 years old, the oldest of its kind in Minnesota.

“We’ve always thought it was 200, 300 years old,” said Russ Ferrin, a retiree who runs the Pioneer Museum. “And then they came back and said it was 1,000 years old. It totally shocked us.”

The canoe, made from a hollowed tree trunk by some of the earliest American Indians to live on the lake and in the state, was initially dated to about 1750. But recent radiocarbon testing now dates it to between 1025 and 1165 — making it one of the oldest archaeological finds in the state.

“It’s spectacular,” Ferrin said.

The canoe was discovered in 1934 as a family was building a dock on the shore of Lake Minnetonka’s North Arm in Orono. Severe drought had dropped the lake below normal water levels, and one of the dock posts hit what family members thought was a log. They unearthed it and discovered it was the well-preserved dugout canoe, long embedded in the lake’s silt and mud.

The canoe has bounced around to different museums and been lent to various groups.

When no one else had space — or, perhaps, interest — the Western Hennepin County Pioneer Association took it in 1961, adding it to the dozens of family heirlooms and antiques that people have discarded, such as tea cups, a war flag, even a moose shot by Theodore Roosevelt that another museum didn’t want.

“Everything tells a story,” Ferrin said.

More at link.

[geardaddy]

1. kick

[NCTraveler]

2. K&R. nt.

[geardaddy]

3. Of course

the usual Strib teabagger commenters are using this to push their agenda of whatever idiocy is their pain at the moment.

[progressoid]

4. Yeah, I wish I had those couple minutes back after reading the comments.

Jeebus. It's a cool story about an historic item. let it be.

[geardaddy]

7. Exactly.

[Enthusiast]

16. They are a plague.

A plague of stupid.

[cyberswede]

5. Question...

If it's a dugout canoe, does that mean it's carved out of a log? How does carbon dating reveal when it was made - wouldn't that just date the material (the log), not the work of carving it? I'm woefully uninformed about such things.

[geardaddy]

6. There were some comments about that

Apparently the carbon dating only can determine the roughly the age when the tree died. So, that basically assumes that the tree was cut down and carved within a reasonable short period, which is likely.

[cyberswede]

8. Thanks! I didn't read that far...

and I didn't realize carbon dating could determine when the tree died. Cool!

[geardaddy]

9. I didn't either.

I'm glad there were a couple of knowlegeable commenters to blow away the idiots on the comments board.

[bvar22]

14. It would help to know what kind of wood it was.

Most of the trees in that area are spruce and other soft woods.
They won't last very long as a dead fall in the Minnesota forest.

It makes sense that someone smart enough to carve a dug out canoe would use good wood to do so.
It is a safe assumption that the canoe was made within a year of death of the tree.

Just my opinion.
I'm no expert on the native cultures of Minnesota 1000AD,
but I am familiar with the area,
and know a little about wood.

[geardaddy]

17. Well, seeing as it's more in the southern part of the state

it could be a hardwood. There was a lot of white pine (still is in the Superior National Forest) but I'm not sure how far south it streched. Lots of deciduous hardwoods available down this way.

[NickB79]

19. That area used to be part of the Big Woods

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Woods

The dominant trees are American elm, basswood, sugar maple, and red oak. The understory is composed of ironwood, green ash, and aspen. The Big Woods would have once covered 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) in a diagonal strip 100 miles (160 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide.

So, lots of hardwoods if desired.

[Enthusiast]

18. Here ya go, bvar22.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Minnesota_trees

[stg81]

10. it's 1/6th as old as the earth!!!!!

[geardaddy]

11. Oh boy.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Then white people arrived and stuff was allowed to happen here.

[geardaddy]

13. Yes.

[Blue_Tires]

15. I don't have a lot of confidence in the seaworthiness of that craft