Red Paint People

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The Red Paint People are a culture believed to be a Maritime Archaic, Pre-Columbian culture indigenous to the New England and Labrador regions of North America, existing between 6th millennium BC and 1st millennium AD.

[edit] Maritime Archaic Indians

The Maritime Archaic Indians (MAI), were a group of American Indians who hunted and fished the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland for more than 2,000 years.

The Maritime Archaic culture was discovered more than 30 years ago by James A. Tuck of Memorial University of Newfoundland after his excavation of 56 elaborate burials at Port au Choix, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Interred between 4500 and 3200 B.P., the dead--along with various grave goods were covered in red ochre, earning them the name "The Red Paint People."

Tool kits contained in the burials pointed to a lifeway dependent on the deep sea. [1]

[edit] Technology

The Red Paint People apparently possessed tools and craft that allowed them to perform deepwater fishing and intercoastal travel more advanced than their peers of the era.