Archaeologists have discovered 16 ancient canoes left behind by Indigenous people along the shore of a Wisconsin lake, in what they described as the prehistoric version of a modern-day docking station for shared electric bicycles.

The locations of the canoes were carefully mapped as archaeologists identified each of them, submerged in Lake Mendota in Wisconsin's capital city, over a period of several years, the Wisconsin Historical Society announced Wednesday.

Tamara Thomsen, the state's maritime archaeologist, discovered the first 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Lake Mendota in 2021 and has been studying the site ever since, according to the historical society.

Thomsen said that the site lies near a network of what were once indigenous trails. They were likely not owned by individuals

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