University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students in the Anthropology 394: Field Experience class are gaining hands-on experience working with tools, such as a gouge adze and draw knife to make a 16-foot canoe for an upcoming Oshkosh Public Museum exhibit.
The class is led by UW Oshkosh anthropology professor Jeffrey Behm, who specializes in the archaeology of historic Native Americans. For Behm, the experience is helping him to better understand Native American sites.
“This is my first time making a dugout canoe,” Behm said. “Now that we are building the canoe, I suspect that I have actually come across a canoe construction site that I had previously written off as a farmhouse, so it’s a learning experience for me, too.”
Preparations for building the canoe began in February when Behm cut down a white pine tree located on a UWO chemistry department colleague’s land in Royalton. The parks and recreation department then transported it to the museum where it was stored until work began on the canoe on Monday, May 16.
“We started by taking off the bark from the log and then almost everyday we’ve been burning,” Behm said.
Students start each day by removing the charred wood to form the inside of the canoe. The log is then covered in clay each day to protect it from the fire, which is usually lit by 10 a.m. and burns until 3 p.m.
“We learn how to use tools from ancient times and learn how difficult life was back then,” said Lauren Henry, a freshmen anthropology major from Crystal Falls, Mich. “It’s a class that is not offered often, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.”
The students’ finished product—the dugout canoe—will be one of thousands of artifacts on display at the Oshkosh Public Museum’s 2017 exhibit, “The People of the Water.”
“The museum reached out to me when they started planning the exhibit to talk about various artifacts that could be included, and that’s when we thought it would be a good idea to build a dugout canoe,” Behm said. “I also thought it would make a great fit for a field experience class and here we are.”
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