A search for artefacts from 1500 years ago and the deepest ice dive?

A group of Canadian divers have announced that they have set a new depth record in ice diving. The dive took place this past Saturday, February 3. However, the goal of the PTO Exploration team members was not the record itself, but the search at the bottom of Lake Mazinaw for artifacts and remnants of Canada’s indigenous people.

The basin located in Bon Echo Provincial Park, about 130 km south-west of Ottawa, is an extraordinary place. In its depths it hides traces of human presence, dating back as far as 1500 years. It was this aspect that prompted the divers to take up the challenge and dive under the ice to a depth of 132 metres.

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In the immediate vicinity of the lake there are pictographs from fifteen centuries ago, which inspired the PTO Exploration group. It has been gathered that at the bottom of the lake there may be all sorts of everyday objects that ended up there under different circumstances. Ceramics, smoking pipes and more.

[blockquote style=”2″]”A single artifact could change Canadian history,” – says Kevin Brown, completing his master’s degree in anthropology at the University of Ottawa. The main focus of his thesis is the remains and artifacts of Canada’s indigenous peoples found in the water[/blockquote].

Although the record-breaking dive unfortunately did not bring the expected results in terms of science, the members of PTO Exploration are not breaking their arms. Speaking to local media, they said that this was just the first dive and they are planning further exploration of the basin from this angle.

Due to the extremely cold temperatures, the dive was conducted using electric heating. It was also a great test before the group’s planned diving expedition to the Arctic in August 2018.

Although the Canadian media titles the achievement a World Record, there is no official confirmation. Another thing is that they cite as the previous record a dive in 1997, conducted in Quebec to a depth of 72 meters in Lake Témiscouata. While at that time the result was certainly a great achievement, in Poland in 1999 Sławek “Paco” Paćko and Jacek “Jumbo” Książak dived under the ice in Lake Hancza to a depth of 105 metres. Their feat was repeated in 2011 in the same area by Agnieszka Kiel-Pałys.

Source: cbc.ca, ptoexploration.com, Photo: Kevin Brown/PTO Exploration

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