Associate professor Ashley Lemke has long been familiar with the Great Lakes region. She’s spent many summers visiting Lake Huron — but not to hike along the shore or relax on its beaches. Lemke was exploring prehistoric hunter-gatherer sites long submerged in the depths of the Great Lakes.
Underwater archaeology — especially with a focus on hunter-gatherers — is a relatively new discipline, and UW-Milwaukee’s position on Lake Michigan is perfect for Lemke’s research. When she joined UWM’s anthropology department in 2023, Lemke jumped at the chance to start UWM’s underwater archaeology program — one of a small handful in the country. Lemke and her students are the first to study prehistoric, submerged sites in Lake Michigan.
“I do what’s called submerged landscape research, where you’re trying to find evidence of ancient people,” Lemke said. “Because of sea level rise, there are entire landscapes that used to be dry land. People were living on the shoreline which is now in the middle of the lake.”
She says underwater archaeology appealed for a number of reasons: “I really like being outside, I really like being on a boat, and I really like doing research,” Lemke said. “All of that combining into a job was not something I ever imagined happening.”
Read the full story on UWM Report.
By Rachel Maidl, Marketing & Communications