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Carved Sloth discovered during the construction of the Georges Bank Lighthouse. Dated to 11,000 years ago.
The Georges Bank Culture (abbreviated as GBC) was the hunter gathering society located on the now submerged Georges Bank. Lasting roughly from 11,000 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E, the early history of the GBC is poorly understood due to the poor preservation of artifacts. However, the later history of the GBC is well known thanks to the cultural exchange and human migration which occurred post Norse contact especially as the GBC transformed into Hopfling culture.
Because the GBC inhabited a now submerged area of land which is up to 20 meters below sea level in some areas, archaeology and study of the GBC can be challenging. Further complicating matters, prior to its submergence most of the Georges Bank was a salty marsh environment. This led to no preservation of hearths, most animal and plant products, and coprolites. Additionally, unlike the neighboring Shearpoint culture in the Mossfell Islands, no caves containing treasure troves of artifacts have been discovered in the Georges Bank. What few material remains do exist, usually come in the form stone carvings, bones, arrow points, and the very rare preserved wooden artifact such as a dugout canoe. Unfortunately this has led to many gaps in understanding the GBC and its relationship with the comparatively well studied Shearpoint Culture.
Lithic Stage (before 8500 BCE)
The Georges Bank culture originated as a subset of other early Paleoamerican groups on the North Atlantic coast of North America. As yearly temperatures rose and the North American glacier receded, Paleoamerican groups followed the northern and eastern migrations of their primary game animals such as moose, caribou, and mule deer. From 11,000 to 9,000 B.C.E. some of these Paleoamerican groups crossed the newly formed Great South Channel into a low-lying island which had recently experienced glacial rebound. At this time, this island was host to swampy marshes, flat grassy plains, and thick forests with only occasional hills made of glacial erratics. This was the early Georges Bank and it would be their home for the next 10,000 years.
Bones of butchered animals found at the site of the Georges Bank Lighthouse site reveal that members of the early GBC were avid hunters of land-bound fauna such as white-tailed deer, mosjk bear, and smaller ecotypes of Megalonyx jeffersoni. Accompanying these bones were Clovis points, indicating that the Paleoamericans which inhabited this site had enough communication across the southern channel to acquire this relatively new technological advancement.
Artifacts from the Late Lithic stage indicate a change of diet. Butchered animal remains and stone tools clearly used for harpooning larger aquatic prey indicate that the diet of the GBC became increasingly based on ocean fauna. At the same time, large animal remains of mammoths, moose, and ground sloths disappear from the area. As large animal prey was either hunted to extinction or perished due to environmental changes, the GBC adapted to a different abundant food source around them.
During the Lithic Stage, the GBC became adept at traveling between the the various swamps, marshes, and coasts of the Georges Bank and beyond. Remains at the Brindlehome archeological site in the Mossfell Islands date to 9000 BCE. At the site, relatively well-preserved remains of dugout canoes and tools made from Georges Bank Deer femurs indicate that the inhabitants at this site had the means to travel between island chains. This is the basis of the Island Hopper Hypothesis which states that the Shearpoint culture of the Mossfell Islands originated from the GBC. Despite the accepted validity of the Island Hopper Hypothesis, there is no consensus as to a specific reason for this migration. Various explanations for the initial populating of the Mossfells exist such as migration in order to follow prey species, a stranding by various groups of sailors, and deliberate migration following intra-group violence.
Archaic Period (8000-1000 BCE)
Following the initial migration period to the Mossfells, there is only sparse evidence of cross-cultural exchange between the GBC and Shearpoint cultures. Reasons for this limited exchange are unknown and poorly studied, however the potential hazards of travel between the Georges Bank and Mossfell Islands such as an increasingly powerful Gulf Stream may have made travel between the two areas dangerous. Alternatively, there may have been very little need for travel between the two island chains due to abundant resources found in both, leading to diminished interaction over time.
One of the few notable examples of cross cultural exchange from the early Archaic period is a set of volcanic rock and tusk carvings found at 2010 Boat Site in the Georges Bank. These carvings appear to depict various animals present in both the Mossfell Islands as well as in the Georges Bank along with more abstract carvings which may be interpreted as pseudo-religious effigies. These artifacts were found along with the remains of a large raft which remained surprisingly well preserved in a silt covered area of the submerged island.
Carvings found in the 2010 Boat Site. Most depict animals found in the Mossfell Archipelago, however a few appear to be more spiritual or religious iconography.A. SealbirdB. AyturcatC. BoglinD. Red Shouldered HawkE. Tusked walrusF. Three people in a boatG. Fertility idol or figure of a pregnant womanH. Mammoth with etchings, mammoth tuskI. HolmgamockJ. Carved Shell-like creature with multiple faces
Later carbon dating of the boat remains and tusk carvings date them to roughly 7500 BCE. This correlates to roughly the same time as a large seismic event in the Mossfell Islands. While sensationalized by pop-science publications as a "refugee boat" for Mossfell Islanders fleeing their stricken home, the discovery of the boat and carvings nonetheless support the Shearpoint Return Hypothesis. What is currently unclear is the extent of migration from the Shearpoint culture back to the GBC. The poor preservation of organic remains, as well as the difficulty in excavating under the mostly submerged archipelago makes it incredibly difficult to gauge if this was a voyage undertaken by hundreds, tens, or only a handful of people.
However many people made the trip, the Shearpoint survivors left a tangible mark on the GBC. Various cultural myths speak of an incredible cataclysm which buried nearly all of humanity except for a handful of survivors. These myths would later form the basis of the animistic Hopfling Religion with further aspects which would be later integrated into polytheistic Viardrmen Religion.
Additional contributions from the Shearpoint culture are still hotly debated. Preserved Idunn seeds are present in the Georges Bank after 7500 BCE, and Norse settlers remarked about the Hopfling cultivation of these fruits in salty groves. However, it is still debatable if these fruits were deliberately brought by Shearpoint sailors as a cultivated food source or ended up in the islands due to the rafting of viable fruits to the Georges Bank.
Woodland Period (1000 BCE - 1000 CE)
During the Woodland Period, the GBC experienced a period of relative stability and then rapid collapse. In the early woodland period, the Georges Bank was still rather large landmass and contained areas of dense oak forest, marshy coasts, and sandbar dunes. There is evidence of cross-channel trade in the form of copper jewelry and pottery shards from mainland Algonquin peoples. Butchered animal remains of seals, deer, sealbirds, and fish, as well as rare human remains indicate that members of the GBC were likely well-fed by their oceanic surroundings. Crops such as the famous Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) were grown as well, providing the members of the GBC a relatively balanced diet. It is believed that superficially the GBC appeared much like their proto-Algonquin contemporaries along the mainland's coast in forms of dress, shelter construction, diet, and language. Based on a 2011 study on arable land and indigenous land use, it is estimated that the Georges Bank may have been home to 7,000 to 18,000 individuals during this time period.
However, the days of plenty were not to last for the GBC. Around 500 CE, the landmass of the Georges Bank began to rapidly sink into the Gulf of Maine, losing more than 85% of its landmass before 1000 CE. No artifacts from the mainland are can be identified past 600CE, indicating the GBC may have become isolated. As the Georges Bank submerged, the landmass splintered into various small islets and sandbars. Conditions for forest growth deteriorated rapidly during this time. Prior to contact by Norse travelers, the Georges Bank had been reduced to a tiny archipelago of low-lying marshy islands consolidated around small hills no higher than 9 feet above sea-level.
The marshy conditions of these low-lying islands would have been difficult to settle and farm in. Agriculture likely became impossible in almost all areas of the islands save for isolated high areas. Despite the presence of salt-tolerant trees, tree cover would also have become more sparse as forests yielded to brackish swamps, leading to a decrease in building material for tools, weapons, and transportation. In order to compensate for the lack of terrestrial food sources, the GBC pivoted to aquatic animals such as seals, fish, and sealbirds. However the increased demand of aquatic resources led both to overhunting and collapse in their prey animal populations as well as the near complete destruction of the remaining forests in the islands.
By the end of the Woodland Period, the GBC was in complete societal collapse due to the rapid change of the world around them. Oral accounts detail intense warfare between various small groups. The aforementioned 2011 study estimated that the Georges Bank was only home to 800 to 3,000 individuals by this time. This collapse would somehow be both assured and prevented by the arrival of Norse Boats along the marshy coasts. A culture would be obliterated, but a people would survive.
Late Archaic Migrations and settlement 6000-3000 years ago. As the climate continued to warm following the ice age, the modern coast of New England and the Mossfells began to take shape. The warming climate also began to quickly submerge the Georges Bank. Increased isolation, as well as longer seafaring distances led to less frequent interactions between the Algonquian and proto-Hopfling peoples. Increased distances also prevented indigenous peoples from returning to the Mossfell Islands, resulting in the archipelago being uninhabited until the arrival of the Norse. (From Human Footprints in Volcanic Ash)
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