diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 98e06473d..0ccd3810a 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -16,3 +16,7 @@
 [submodule "depends/jsoncpp"]
 	path = depends/jsoncpp-sub
 	url = ../../DFHack/jsoncpp.git
+[submodule "depends/xlsxio"]
+	path = depends/xlsxio
+	url = ../../brechtsanders/xlsxio.git
+	shallow = true
diff --git a/depends/xlsxio b/depends/xlsxio
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..2d12a8844
--- /dev/null
+++ b/depends/xlsxio
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 2d12a88448b6f40594b2b2e0d0ce7207d0efa021