TITTABAWASSEE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A submarine will be used by University of Michigan researchers to look for prehistoric civilization under Lake Huron.
The decades-old yellow submersible, PC1201, will take explorers to the Alpena-Amberley Ridge, where researchers believe there is a 9,000-year-old caribou hunting structure, the Saginaw News reported.
"The site and its associated artifacts provide unprecedented insight into the social and seasonal organization of prehistoric caribou hunting," a 2014 research report stated.
Greg Busch provides international underwater services at Busch Marine Inc., including the 23-foot-long submarine.
Known as the PC1201, the sub is 8 feet wide and 23 feet long and can carry a pilot and two passengers.
The sub can be used for film production, tourism, salvage investigations and underwater inspections. It can also accommodate two passengers and a pilot, and has been all over the world, including Antarctica.
Busch says the area used to be dry land at one point that connected northeast Michigan to southern Ontario, but is now covered with 120 feet-deep water.
"When combined with environmental and simulation studies, it is suggested that distinctly different seasonal strategies were used by early hunters on the (Alpena-Amberley Ridge), with autumn hunting being carried out by small groups, and spring hunts being conducted by larger groups of cooperating hunters," the report stated.
Researchers are expected to begin their voyage to the site in July or August.
Published: Mon, Jun 26, 2017
