LIDAR identifies possible site of ancient port town on Cumberland Island, Georgia

Cumberland Island National Seashore

Archeologists John McAuliffe and Brandon Ritchison of the University of Pennsylvania have recently announced the results of several years of investigations on Ossabaw and Sapelo Islands, GA . . . which are north of Cumberland Island. On both islands, the researchers found relatively deep layers of human detritus under the surface. This is proof of dense human occupation of the islands going back at least 5,000 years. There were large towns on both islands. Ritchison stated that he suspected that large town sites would be found on other Georgia islands.

At the time of first contact with French and Spanish explorers in the 1560s, this archaeological zone was the site of a large Mocama town. During the first half of the 17th century, there was also a Spanish Franciscan mission located here. Florida academicians have always labeled the Mocama as being “Timucuas.” However, after analyzing surviving Mocama words, I am 100% certain that they were Caribs from the Orinoco River Basin of Venezuela.

The western edge of the pancake flat archaeological site was chosen by the widow of General Nathanial Greene and her new husband for a plantation. On the site of their house, Dungeness mansion on Cumberland Island was initially constructed in 1884-1885 by Thomas Carnegie as a winter retreat for his family. Additions and renovations continued until around 1905, expanding the mansion to approximately 37,000 square feet and over fifty rooms. The castle-like mansion is now in ruins.

Photo of the ruins of Dungeness today by Steve Markos for the National Park Service

The Many Peoples of the South Atlantic Coast Series

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

As mentioned in a recent article, I am currently creating a detailed virtual reality 3D computer model of the southern tip of Cumberland Island. This is where my Georgia Tech friends, Craig Duvall and Woody Thompson, plus myself lived off the land for over two weeks, after a waterspout wrecked our sail boat and camp site. All three of us were in ROTC units at Tech, so it was a good test of our time in the Boy Scouts and military training.

The computer model will re-create the appearance of the island around 1500 AD . . . before European pathogens began devastating the indigenous populations of the South Atlantic Coast. I am fairly certain that the man-made features still visible around the ruins of Dungeness are from a much earlier era.

We know from initial reports by Spanish military officers and friars that the coastal peoples typically had two or three residences. Their primary residence was in a village, but they also owned farmsteads on the mainland and fishing huts at the edge of particularly productive tidal marshes. Except near the mouths of the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, Indian corn did now grow well on the coastal islands.

The Spanish friars seriously disrupted this lifestyle, because they insisted that the men spend long hours growing Indian corn and other vegetables at much larger communal farms on the mainland, which were then GIVEN to the people of St. Augustine . . . 80 miles to the south. The Native American men even had to transport the corn, beans, squash and peppers in dugout canoes to St. Augustine. By the middle of the 17th century, Georgia’s coastal peoples either had moved to the interior or been driven to near extinction by the Spanish.

Southern tip of Cumberland Island. The red line is used to scale the photo to the CAD layers of a 3D computer model. Our campsite in August 1971 was at the entrance to a tidal creek about 75 meters (246 feet) wide. From this recent 2025 photo, readers can see that Cumberland Island has grown substantially since 1971 . . . despite the fact that the ocean level is rising.

View of the tidal creek leading to the ruins of Dungeness (center) in August 1971.

Detailed satellite photo of the shell ring or possibly, shell fort.

View of long, man-made dock in August 1971