OCALA, FLORIDA—Seven-year-old Koen Ergle told reporters about his discovery of an old can, old bricks, three golf balls, and a dugout canoe while taking a scuba-diving lesson from his grandfather in Owen Lake. “He was on my secondary respirator and I could hear him making noises and pointing to the wood. I started fanning the sand off and still wasn’t quite sure what it was,” added his grandfather, Ken Ergle. Archaeologist Julia Byrd of the Bureau of Archaeological Research, Division of Historical Resources, is documenting the canoe (which was found on privately owned land) and beginning the conservation process while waiting for the results of carbon dating testing. But pottery near the canoe could be 2,000 years old. The canoe will be housed in the Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology.
