The Mysterious "Red Paint People" of North America

The so-called “Red Paint People” of New England and the Atlantic Canadian coastal regions of North America were a pre-Columbian indigenous culture named for the large quantities of red ochre they typically used in their mortuary practices.  An otherwise unknown seafaring group that began fishing and hunting along the coasts and rivers of North America at least 7,000 to 9,000 years ago, these ancient Americans came to rival their European counterparts in sophisticated stone and bone tool-making and navigational skills, several millennia before the Vikings.  With some of their coastal sites showing evidence of year-round occupation, evidence shows that their diets included sea fish, anadromous fish, shellfish, meat, berries, acorns, nuts and roots, with regular hunting (probably by spearing) of swordfish obtained from the Gulf of Maine.  Read more . . .