The USIH

This page is under construction. I hope for this to some day, when the wiki is complete, be my main nation. So until then Nyanga is my current Nation.

Early Settlement 10,000BC-8,000BC
Before 10,000BC during the last glacial period, the islands of the USIH were covered by large sheets of ice and glaciers. The islands were a singular piece of land that was connected via Ireland and the UK to mainland Europe with land bridges. By 8,000BC Mesolithic hunter-gatherers had arrived and started to hunt the forests and grasslands. They were mainly concentrated to southern areas, trading with other European tribes but slowly they moved north. By the time tribes were established in present day Hibernia, the land connection between Inisheer and Hibernia was lost due to rising sea levels from the Holocene warm period though Ireland remained connected to Inisheer. This created the island of Raoull, which comprised of Inismaan, the Inismores and Hibernia. By late 6,000BC to early 5,000BC Raoull had split into the islands of today.

Breen Culture 8,000BC - 4,000BC
Without access to the changing European cultures that ventured into farming, Raoull kept the hunter gatherer way of life for around millennia longer than others cultures of the area. The Breens deciphers themselves from others because of their ingenuity in ceramics and weapons though it never advanced into farming fully.

Early Breen Culture 8,000BC – 6,000BC
The Early Breens were mainly inland dwellers and moved regularly throughout the year following food supplies as they were often limited. It is thought that they rotated through a series of camps, built the previous years and travelled between each one depending on the season. They hunted the white elk, wild boars and fished salmon and eel in the rivers and lakes. Fruits and nuts were gathered from the forests and shrublands. No settlement was made in the coastal regions, at the time they were too infertile and didn’t support much animal life. Archaeologists have found intricate clay statues of human figures and animals believed to be used in storytelling and some for worship. The Breens also developed pottery earlier than the neighbouring countries. Coiled pottery was the type found in the sites, which wasn’t seen in Europe until the Neolithic period. The pottery was mainly used for bowls and plates, some possibly for fermenting. They developed sophisticated methods of hunting and trapping food in the sea, rivers and lakes and on land. It’s believed there was a reliance on the native poisonous shrub, warthers berry, to kill prey for food. Crushed berries and sap from the plant were used on the tips of arrows and spears, causing paralysis and eventually death for the animal within minutes. This would be the only plant the Breens cultivated. A large amount of warthers berry pollen has been found in bogs near sites, where it is usually suited to narrow river gorges or valleys. The use and cultivation of this plant is the first signs of farming in Hibernia, as traditional Neolithic culture would not come until 4 millennia later. No evidence of the Early Breen culture is found on the mainland of the Inismores, because of the poor land quality it’s thought that no attempt was made at settlement.

Later Breen Culture 6,000BC – 1,500BC
After Raoull had separated at the turn of the 6th millennium BC, most of the tribes who were in the forests and grasslands of Raoull, mainly relying on foraging and hunting land animals now became accustom to a seafood diet of shellfish, fish and in summer, whale. By moving to the sea the previously nomadic Early Breen culture switched to more permanent dwellings, because there was a steady supply of food from the sea. They moved further inland as the weather worsened in winter, compared with moving each season and as weather permitted. Their huts were predominantly built of whale bone and leather and some even from a stone and thatched reed roof combination. Stone workmanship increased in skill as new ideas for better weapons and tools made their way through the tribes. They began to incorporate barbs and microliths into spears and harpoons which would snag at an animal’s skin, making it harder for them to escape. Carved gemstones such as quartz replaced clay for the figurines and small statues that make up a large portion of Breen Culture. The Gadlán cave paintings dated to around 2,000BC, depict scenes that show sun and moon worshiping and for the first time, death rituals. The paintings show a person being cremated and grave goods being put together with their ashes. This is also the first time stone tombs were built, now that the tribes were living a relatively settled lifestyle. The tombs resemble the portal dolmens found in Ireland and never got any larger than this. The Later Breen culture has been found in sites all along the northern coasts of Hibernia and the southern coast of Inismore.

Herding Cultures 1,500BC -
As the population grew during the Later Breen Culture, food supplies are thought to have been strained with a reliance on whale meat for most settlements. herding of white elk took away the reliance on whale and brought the settlements away from the coasts and inland. In the Inismores they continued the tradition until recently. Archaeologists have not come to a conclusion whether the introduction of herding was brought over from Europe. There is are a number of possible routes to Hibernia and agree that entering through the Lanibh Islands or southern Hibernia seem the most viable options, despite the rough seas. The route through southern Hibernia may have also given way to the Bronze Age with its proximity to Inisheer who had been introduced to the culture by this time.

Prehistoric Inisheer
Inisheer developed much like Ireland, with a Neolithic period following the Mesolithic period around 4,000-2,500BC. The cultivation of oats and wheat and the farming of cattle for dairy was introduced. During this time most of the land connection with Ireland was lost with the further increasing sea levels. This cut off most trading connections with Europe.