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.
Tapping into underwater archaeology
“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.”
Research days mean boarding a 25-foot fishing boat with a small crew and piloting a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The ROV sends a live video feed back to the boat, along with GPS coordinates and samples. And when she’s out in the field, Lemke said, she still has the same sense of wonder she had as a student.
On recent research trips to Lake Huron, her team found a 9,000-year-old caribou hunting site under 100 feet of water and stone structures Lemke describes as hunting blinds. They also discovered perfectly preserved trees and seeds.
“It’s like a treasure chest for archeologists,” Lemke said.
Another notable discovery was obsidian tools in Lake Huron. Geoarchaeologists traced the rock tools to Oregon, suggesting that hunter-gatherers in the Midwest had vast trading networks.
Teaching the next generation of underwater pioneers
Lemke, a first-generation college graduate, found navigating academia challenging at times. As a professor, she wants to empower students to succeed in higher education, and to demonstrate that archeology is a real pathway to a career.
“People have been scuba diving since the 1970s, but people haven’t been doing this kind of older, prehistoric underwater archeology that long — it’s a new field,” says Lemke. “Students can specialize in something different and really launch their careers.”
Many archaeologists work for federal, tribal and state government agencies as well as cultural resource management companies. They research and preserve important historical sites as well as educate the public so that everyone can connect with and learn from our world’s shared past — whether underwater or on land.
