This Dugout Canoe Made From a 12-Foot-Long Log Was Found Bobbing in a North Carolina River
The newly discovered vessel is one of 79 known dugout canoes that have been unearthed throughout the state
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/SarahKuta.png)
A man was out exploring North Carolina’s South River when he noticed something unusual bobbing in the water. It appeared to be a dugout canoe, crafted from a single 12-foot-long log.
Now, working in partnership with members of the Coharie Tribe, state officials have successfully recovered the vessel, which could be centuries old. For now, it’s being stored in a secure pond, but it will eventually be transported to a lab for preservation.
Once the canoe is stabilized—a process that could take five to ten years—it will go on display at an undetermined location “where it can help to tell the story of North Carolina’s rich cultural heritage,” says Stephen Atkinson, deputy state underwater archaeologist for North Carolina, to McClatchy’s Mark Price.
The details surrounding the canoe’s discovery are a bit murky. But according to state officials, it had “become dislodged from the bank and was neutrally buoyant,” a spokesperson tells McClatchy. The canoe was found in situ, “or deposited exactly where it was last used,” state officials tell the publication.
The individual who spotted it alerted members of the Coharie Tribe, who contacted the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology’s Underwater Archaeology Branch last summer.
A year later, in early June, state and tribal officials convened on the banks of the South River near the town of Autryville, roughly 70 miles south of Raleigh. When they arrived, they found a sturdy, well-preserved canoe that measured roughly four inches thick. Using straps affixed to two modern canoes, they carefully hoisted the vessel out of the water and loaded it onto a cradle in the bed of a truck.
Quick facts: How many dugout canoes have been found in North Carolina?
- So far, 79 dugout canoes have surfaced throughout the state.
- That number includes 30 that were discovered on the shores of Lake Phelps in the 1980s.
“It’s not everyday that you get to be a part of history,” wrote Pam Cashwell, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, in a Facebook post that included photos of the recovery mission.
Even though the canoe is in good condition, archaeologists say it must be handled and conserved carefully. If not, “waterlogged wood of this age will twist, crack and crumble away,” conservator Kim Kenyon tells McClatchy.
Archaeologists have not performed radiocarbon dating—so for now, the canoe’s age is a mystery. However, most canoes like this one “predate modern memory and current Indigenous holdings by hundreds if not thousands of years,” Atkinson tells the publication.
The canoe is a reminder that the “waterways of eastern North Carolina are more than scenic,” writes Kaytee Smith in a blog posted on the department’s website.
“For Indigenous peoples, rivers, creeks and sounds were highways, hunting grounds, trade routes and gathering places,” she adds. “In the dense swamps and forests of the Coastal Plain, water travel wasn’t optional. It was essential.”
The newly discovered vessel is one of 79 known dugout canoes that have been found in the state. Many of North Carolina’s rivers and lakes are rich in tannins—a naturally occurring compound found in trees—which seems to help protect the wooden vessels.
In the 1980s, 30 canoes were found on the northern and western shores of Lake Phelps, a large, shallow body of water in northeastern North Carolina. Of those, the oldest dates to around 2430 B.C.E, which makes it more than 4,000 years old.
“Some of the canoes are nothing more than fragments while others are essentially intact, preserved by the acidic water and long burial in the lake bottom sediments,” notes the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology on its website. “There appear to be a number of end (bow and stern) shape variations, and the length of the longest canoe found so far is 37 feet.”
Most of the vessels were returned to Lake Phelps and reburied, though four were preserved to be displayed in museums.
In 2021, three teenagers discovered a 1,000-year-old canoe while swimming in Lake Waccamaw near Wilmington. The slender vessel was recovered in 2023 in partnership with the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe.
“That canoe at 28 feet long would have carried many a brave,” Michael Jacobs, the tribe’s chief, told WECT’s Zach Solon at the time. “We feel like in our heart, it’s a history that we’re still exploring and understanding because this is the first time we’ve had access.”
Previous specimens have also been found in the South River, including a more than 500-year-old canoe discovered in 2018 that’s currently on view at the Coharie Tribal Center.
“The canoes from the South River seem to be unique in that they are quite short compared to the canoes found in lake environments, which can reach up to 27 feet in length or more,” Atkinson tells McClatchy.