It's incredibly exciting': ancient canoe unearthed after Hurricane Ian stormed through Florida

"Florida already claims to be the world capital of golf, shark bites and lightning strikes. Now a remarkable discovery following a devastating hurricane has enhanced its position as a global leader in another distinctive field: ancient canoes some even prehistoric. State archeologists have just completed a painstaking preservation of an ancient wooden canoe discovered by a resident of Fort Myers during the cleanup from Hurricane Ian in 2022."

"It joins 450 other log boats or canoes dating back thousands of years recorded or preserved by the Florida division of historical resources. But this one is unusual, officials say, because it is the first they have seen made of mahogany, and probably the first to originate outside Florida, possibly in the Caribbean. The age of the fragile 9ft (2.7 meter) canoe is under analysis through carbon dating and other scientific processes."

"On the surface there's tool marks made by iron tools, and we know that that is a historical date because that's when the Europeans introduced iron tools into the Americas. Wilford said efforts to further narrow down a date through examination of fragments of the canoe were so far inconclusive. We sent in two samples for radiocarbon dating and unfortunately those dates we're still working with, because they came back earlier than what we'd expect, he said."

An ancient wooden canoe discovered in Fort Myers during 2022 Hurricane Ian cleanup underwent preservation. The canoe joins about 450 log boats or canoes recorded by the Florida division of historical resources. The craft is unusual for being made of mahogany and may have originated outside Florida, possibly the Caribbean. Surface tool marks indicate iron-tool shaping introduced by Europeans, raising a hypothesis of a 16th-century Spanish dugout cayuco. Radiocarbon samples returned unexpectedly early dates, and analysts note possible contamination or that the wood's tree death predates canoe construction. Further dating and scientific analysis continue.

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