Having successfully replicated a 19th century dugout in 2006.  Erik Vosteen and myself, Kevin Finney, were anxious to regress technologically and make a concerted effort to better understand how dugouts may have been built before European contact.   With a handful of contact period accounts, a decade of experience with stone age technologies and the enthusiasm of fifty fifth grade students from the Goodwillie Environmental School, who would be working with us on the project, we felt we were ready to take on the task. 

    Our first step, as always, was research.  We made a detailed of study historical records, examined possible technological parallels with dugout canoe building traditions in other parts of the world and surveyed ancient dugouts found locally on a hunt to locate evidence of building methods and standard design features.  After a few weeks of strategizing we developed the outline of a plan and a number of theories to test in the process. 

    Our research suggested that dugout canoe builders in Great Lakes Region appear to have prefered two main types of wood.  Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) appears as the dominant material in the north, whereas south of White Pine habitat Yellow poplar (Lirodendron tulipfera), a member of the magnolia family, appears to have been given preference.  Due to the accessibility of larger diameter trees, we chose to use yellow poplar for our canoe.   The photos below roughly follow our process and outcomes.   It should be noted stone tool technologies were used for about 80% of the reduction process.  Click here to see video footage of the project.