Students in the SUNY Potsdam experimental archaeology course pose behind their dugout canoe. Photo courtesy of SUNY Potsdam.

POTSDAM --Nine SUNY Potsdam students in the experimental archaeology course spent the past three weeks honing a canoe out of a 16-foot white pine log and launched it last week into the Raquette River.

On Friday, July 31, they launched their completed vessel, nicknamed "Doug" (for dugout), into the nearby Raquette River. The project was led by Dr. Timothy Messner.

"It has been really great so far. There have been so many interesting insights. It's really hard, grueling work," said student Hannah Grimm , who is majoring in anthropology and archaeological studies, with a minor in biomedical anthropology.

Each morning, the students packed clay from the riverbed along the edges of their boat, and then they built small fires on top of the log, which were tended to for two to three hours before being extinguished. The students gathered firewood from the surrounding forest in the Lehman Park.

This style of boat is among the most ancient, with vessels dating back 8,000 years having been discovered. Log boats were used across the globe, including by indigenous peoples in North America.

While they watch the coals burned, students crafted Stone Age tools using ancient methods. The first week, they produced chip stone tools including arrowheads and spear points. After that, they made ground stone tools, such as stone adzes, using Adirondack orthocite, followed by fiber technologies, including fishing nets and lines woven from dried milkweed, dogbane and basswood. In their final week they worked on Stone Age food processing tools.

Once the coals cooled, Dr. Messner and the students scraped out charred wood using their tools. The final step was to sand down the whole boat using sandstone rocks, and paint the exterior with a natural sealant to help preserve it.

Last summer, Messner led a field school and archaeological dig at the same site, which produced evidence of human habitation on the Potsdam riverfront in Lehman Park going back approximately 5,000 years.

"People were here thousands of years ago, doing exactly what we are doing now," Messner said. "It is very important for students to learn from research projects that revolve around reconstructing the past."