Water-Logged and Carbon-Dated

On the Red River near Shreveport recently, two boaters discovered a Native American dugout canoe. Presumably, rains upstream had dislodged the boat from its previous resting place, and it had bumped along the river until again becoming stuck where it was found. Using carbon dating, which calls for measurements of trace radioactive decay to determine how long ago an organism has died (in this case, the tree that was made into the canoe), researchers became almost certain that the canoe was constructed between 1300 and 1420 and therefore likely to be an artifact of the Caddo people, whose culture dominated Northwest Louisiana and adjacent areas in the generations before European settlement. The landowners have donated the find to the state, which intends to give it a home in the Shreveport area after the canoe undergoes a preservation process in Texas.

As you might expect for something that was dragged out of the river, the canoe was waterlogged—according to State Archaeologist Chip McGimsey, the first thing the discoverers were told to do was cover the canoe in plastic to keep it from drying out, which is when the real damage occurs. The canoe is now underwater at Texas A & M University, awaiting a special preservation treatment: the water will slowly be replaced with a stabilizing substance, then the canoe will effectively be freeze-dried to remove any remaining traces of water. The cracking that would result from uneven rates of water loss is prevented, and the canoe remains intact for researchers to study, descendants of Native peoples to learn more about their forebears, and all Louisianans to marvel at.