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Red Paint People

The Red Paint People were a Pre-Columbian culture of New England and Atlantic Canada, defined by mortuary sites with abundant red ochre, and considered probably a subset of the Maritime Archaic cultural complex.

Disappeared from the archaeological record around 1350 BCE after a floruit of roughly 2450–1350 BCE, succeeded in the southern portion of their range by the Susquehanna culture; no single catastrophic mechanism confirmed.

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Further reading

• Ancient North America Brian M. Fagan · 1991

  Covers Late Archaic mortuary cultures of the Northeast including ochre-burial traditions.

• Archaeology of Native North America Dean R. Snow · 2010

  Continent-wide synthesis treating the Maritime Archaic of New England and Atlantic Canada into which the red-ochre 'Red Paint' burial tradition falls.

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Red Paint People' (Q4354062), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Paint_People — article describes them as 'probably a subset of the Maritime Archaic cultural complex'; distinct Wikidata entity confirmed.
• Wikidata Q4354062 confirmed via Wikidata API 2026-06-18; description: 'Pre-Columbian culture indigenous to New England and Atlantic Canada, named after their burials, which used large quantities of ochre to cover both the bodies of the dead and grave goods'.
• Wikipedia, 'Maritime Archaic' (Q2860021) — notes Red Ochre Culture burials in Northeast may represent last phases of Maritime Archaic, but 'their attribution to MA is not generally accepted'; this ambiguity confirms Red Paint People as a separate record is appropriate.