Lessons of the Dugout Canoe

August-September 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Fritzi Olson

Over 120 dugout canoes have been discovered

On this chilly North Florida morning, I stand on the dry, cracked bed of Newnans Lake, just to the east of Gainesville, Florida, where much of the lake bottom has become exposed during the past 2 year drought. My friend Dale Crider, a retired veteran biologist of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who lives on the lake, has led me to this spot. At my feet lies the latest dugout canoe to emerge from the mud. This one hasn't even been counted yet, as the state doesn't yet know it exists. It will be number 120 of what is now the largest find of dugout canoes in the world.

A feeling of special privilege sweeps over me-to be one of the very few to be able to see and even touch this ancient canoe, hidden from us for hundreds or even thousands of years. Carbon dating has determined these boats to vary in age from 500 to 5000 years.

These dugouts are longboats, making obvious sense now of the Seminole name for this lake-Pithlachocco, the 'place of longboats,' carved out of the cypress trees that still ring the lake today.

As I look around, it hits me. These boats from so long ago-the ancient people's 'litter'-fit right into the system. But here, in the
bright Florida sunshine, I see modern litter everywhere, too, and it does not fit into the system. It is here for an eternity, some of it looking as new as the day it went down, and much of it harmful to the water and wildlife. Like the dugouts, our modern cast-offs continue to emerge as more and more of the lake bed is exposed, and the muck dries up and blows away.

I am reminded of Ellen White at the 1991 State of the Strait Conference (organized by the Georgia Strait Alliance on Vancouver Island) in which she related her grandfather's warning: "There will be other things in that water. You will never be able to use it again."

I guess this is our legacy. What a sorry comment on our self-centeredness and lack of respect for other species' right to a decent life, not to mention a lack of respect for the very most essential of resources for our own survival.

What is the matter with us? How did we get so distant from nature? At what point did we lose the Native Americans' connection to living things?

Future generations will have to judge us. But this scene before me this morning is certainly another indication of the real necessity for humanity to change our ways and attitudes concerning the natural world.

Fritzi Olson is Executive Director of a non-profit environment group in Florida. Contact her at aar@currentproblems.org or 352-264-6827.