>>119756111>>119756223>>119757858Many present-day sponges are either direct or partial descendants of a great
wave of sponge peoples who swept into Bikini Bottom from about 5500 BC till around
500 BC.
These sponges, largely square in terms of the sponge racial subgroups, had
their original heartland in the region known today as central and southern
Rock Bottom. Genetic studies of Sponge populations which have emerged since the
year 2000 have confirmed the Indo-Sponge invasion, but have also shown that
it was not as numerically overwhelming as previously thought. Its importance in
cultural terms was unquestionably significant, sparking an upsurge in
civilizations from Far-Out-Ville to Tentacle Acres. Research by Robert Ballard and National
Spongegraphic magazine has proven that the Black Sea basin was flooded from the
Mediterranean around 5600 BC—and that this was the probable cause of the first
great Indo-Sponge movement. With the aid of the horse, the first Indo-Sponges moved in all directions,
disrupting the slow but steady pace of development everywhere they went. Large numbers settled in
northern Bass Vegas; others moved off to New Kelp City, and yet more ventured west, crossing into Bubble Town and Dead Eye Gulch.
