Ancient boats surface as lake dries

[Judi Lynn]

Ancient boats surface as lake dries
As drought lowers Lake Trafford's levels, dugout canoes that may be 1,000 years old have been revealed.
Posted on Sun, Oct. 07, 2007
BY KEVIN LOLLAR
The News-Press

IMMOKALEE -- From a distance, the brown object near the bank of Lake Trafford looks like a log, or maybe a big alligator.

Close up, though, it becomes identifiable as a large section of a dugout canoe, possibly more than 1,000 years old.

As lake levels have dropped during the ongoing drought, normally submerged areas have become dry. Ten canoes, long buried in the sand, have been exposed.

''They started showing up a couple of months ago, but I wanted to verify what they were,'' said Ski Olesky, owner of the Lake Trafford Marina. ``Now the water is coming back up, and pretty soon, you won't be able to see them.''

Archaeologist George Provenzali of Janus Research in Tampa was called in to measure the canoes and take samples for radiocarbon dating.

The largest canoe fragment was almost 14 feet long; some seem to made from cypress, others, pine.

''Until we get the data back, we can't say much,'' Provenzali said. ``But the dugouts are very old. Those things are amazing: You take a sample, and it looks like the trees were cut yesterday.''

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/263168.html

[malta blue]

1. How cool is that!

Thanks for posting :hi: