{"id":31895,"date":"2026-07-07T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?p=31895"},"modified":"2026-07-06T03:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:04:31","slug":"uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-2026\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM associate professor dives into the Great Lakes\u2019 secrets\u202f\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Associate professor Ashley Lemke has long been familiar with the Great Lakes region. She\u2019s spent many summers visiting Lake Huron \u2014 but not to hike along the shore or relax on its beaches.\u202fLemke was exploring prehistoric hunter-gatherer sites long submerged in the depths of the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Underwater archaeology \u2014 especially with a focus on hunter-gatherers \u2014 is a relatively new discipline, and UW-Milwaukee\u2019s position on Lake Michigan is perfect for Lemke\u2019s research. When she joined UWM\u2019s anthropology department in 2023, Lemke jumped at the chance to start UWM\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-2023\/excavation-under-the-sea-uwm-alumni-and-faculty-explore-underwater-archaeology\/\">underwater archaeology program<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 one of a small handful in the country. Lemke and her students are the first to study prehistoric, submerged sites in Lake Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI do what\u2019s called submerged landscape research, where you\u2019re trying to find evidence of ancient people,\u201d Lemke said. \u201cBecause 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She says underwater archaeology appealed for a number of reasons:\u202f\u201cI really like being outside, I really like being on a boat, and I really like doing research,\u201d Lemke said. \u201cAll of that combining into a job was not something I ever imagined happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\/\" id=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\/\">Read the full story on UWM Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>By Rachel Maidl, Marketing &amp; Communications<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Associate professor Ashley Lemke has long been familiar with the Great Lakes region. She\u2019s spent many summers visiting Lake Huron \u2014 but not to hike along the shore or relax on its beaches.\u202fLemke was exploring prehistoric hunter-gatherer sites long submerged &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":31896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1648,1961,1846],"tags":[1857],"class_list":["post-31895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","category-in-focus-2026","category-research-news","tag-july"],"uwm_unpublish_requested":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letters &amp; Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-2026\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UWM associate professor dives into the Great Lakes\u2019 secrets\u202f\u202f\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associate professor Ashley Lemke has long been familiar with the Great Lakes region. She\u2019s spent many summers visiting Lake Huron \u2014 but not to hike along the shore or relax on its beaches.\u202fLemke was exploring prehistoric hunter-gatherer sites long submerged &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-2026\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letters &amp; Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/07\/Ashley-Lemke.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah E Vickery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah E Vickery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah E Vickery\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453\"},\"headline\":\"UWM associate professor dives into the Great Lakes\u2019 secrets\u202f\u202f\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T15:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":233,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ashley-Lemke.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"July\"],\"articleSection\":[\"In Focus\",\"In Focus 2026\",\"Research News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM associate professor dives into the Great Lakes\u2019 secrets\u202f\u202f - Letters &amp; Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ashley-Lemke.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T15:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus-2026\\\/uwm-associate-professor-dives-into-the-great-lakes-secrets\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ashley-Lemke.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ashley-Lemke.webp\",\"width\":720,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Ashley Lemke, an archaeologist and associate professor in UWM's anthropology department, poses for a portrait in Lake Michigan. 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