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.

Red Paint Identity

The term "Red Paint" stems from the extensive use of ocher pigments found at various gravesites. The finding of similar sites and artifacts in Europe from the same period have prompted scientists to consider the possibility that the Red Paint People existed within a broader North Atlantic cultural tradition. The idea, if true, lends credence to the theory that the Norsemen, under Eric the Red, Leif Ericsson, and Western Europeans, such as St. Brendan, John Cabot, and Christopher Columbus, may all have had previous knowledge, of the lands to the west of Iceland and Greenland.

Conservative theories hold that these similarities were a coevolutionary development occurring separately on the different continents.

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.

References

• Updated Reference: University of Southern Maine Student Page
• Documentary: "The Mystery of the Lost Red Paint People"
• Older Reference: 1991 article expousing trans-Atlantic theory

Pre-Columbian cultures