The canoes were found in a section of the lake that may have served as an ancient "parking lot" for millennia.

Over the past four years, archaeologists have uncovered 16 ancient canoes left along the shore of Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota by Indigenous people who once lived in the area. While experts have floated several theories about why there are so many boats at the site, they now think the area where the canoes were found functioned as a sort of “parking lot.”

The site was located near a network of Indigenous trails, supporting the theory that ancient residents of Wisconsin disembarked at the location and proceeded to travel by foot to their destinations. What’s more, researchers believe the canoes were shared among the community and left floating in the lake for anyone to use as needed.

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