Tribal elders were moved to tears by the retrieval of a 1,000-year-old Native American canoe from Lake Waccamaw in North Carolina.
The Waccamaw Siouan chief, Michael Jacobs, told CBC it was emotional to watch the elders “sit on the bank and cry tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of a future for our youth – how this is going to impact them and help them overcome some of the trauma they’ve experienced through being excluded at times, and even counted as not worthy”.
Members of the tribe, archaeologists and neighbors brought the canoe to the surface of the lake on Wednesday. It was discovered by a group of teenagers two years ago.
“This canoe is about 1,000 years old, and it’s a south-eastern Indian canoe, and it originated from this area … so we wanted the local Indian group to be part of it and share with the agency of it,” state archaeologist John Mintz told WECT.
The canoe was discovered in summer 2021 by three teenagers who went swimming in the 9,000-acre lake in Columbus county, in south-eastern North Carolina.
One of the teenagers, Eli Hill, stepped on the canoe, thinking it was a log.
“I tried to pick it up and it never came up,” he told WECT. “So we kept digging at it and it just kept going. And then the next day, we came back and we started digging some more and it just kept going.”
Hill’s family contacted state archaeologists, who sent a team to move the canoe closer to the family’s pier.
In a statement to WECT, Jacobs said that the canoe offered an opportunity to learn more about Native American history.
“That canoe at 28ft long would have carried many a brave,” he said, adding: “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.”
Jacobs told CBC: “Our youth now can touch something that’s tangible. They can handle it … Our whole tribe is excited about this.
“When I saw that canoe, it was like a man that only heard about his mother, and now you finally get to meet her.”
The canoe will undergo preservation processes, in which its wood will be chemically treated.
On Saturday, it will be put on display at an open house event at Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory in Greenville, North Carolina.
