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Specialists find incredible 930-year-old Native American canoe belonging to the Waccamaw Siouan tribe from a North Carolina lake after a group of boys discovered it while swimming there two years ago
- The boat was originally discovered by a group of 13-year-old boys in 2021
Specialists have recovered a 930-year-old Native American canoe in a North Carolina lake. Their incredible discovery has been captured on video.
The nearly 1,000-year-old Native American canoe was fished out Wednesday by the North Carolina Office of State Archeology and the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe.
The boat was originally discovered by a group of 13-year-old boys in 2021, according to local media reports, notifying authorities and marking the location for safe removal.
Now, two years later, a video shows the moment it was lifted out of the shallows by a group of divers, from under what appears to be a wooden deck.
It took a group of more than a dozen divers and volunteers to get the massive 90-foot canoe out of the lake’s waters.
A nearly millennium-old Native American canoe was fished out of a North Carolina lake on Wednesday
Waccamaw Siouan Chief Michael Jacobs explained, “That 28-foot long canoe would have carried many a brave one,” Jacobs said. “We feel in our hearts, it’s a history we’re still exploring and understanding because this is the first time we’ve had access.”
“For years and years we have always been questioned about our history and where we come from and who we are.
“Now we have physical history to back it up.”
Teenager Eli Hill told local news outlet WECT how he and his friends came across it while swimming.
“We were throwing clams at each other and I stepped on it and I thought it was a block of wood.
‘I tried to pry it open, but couldn’t get it out. So we kept digging for it and it went on and on.
“And the next day we came back and we started digging a little more and it went on and on,” Hill explained.
The canoe will reportedly now be taken to Greenville for preservation and study.
“We look forward to looking into it, running some tests on it, really finding out and getting back to our elders and getting the history of it, where we can teach the truth to our people and know that we concrete evidence to stand on,” Jacobs said.
Incredibly, the boat seemed well preserved despite the long time it would have been under water.
Parts of preserved canoes like this have been found before in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.
In 2021, archaeologists in southern Mexico discovered a well-preserved wooden vessel believed to belong to the Maya, possibly more than 1,000 years old.