Pre-Columbian Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture 8,000-3,000 years ago

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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The Mystery Of The Lost Red Paint People (VIDEO)

Secrets Of The Lost Red Paint People (VIDEO)

“The Red Paint People are a Pre-Columbian culture indigenous to the New England and Atlantic Canada regions of North America. They were named after their burials, which used large quantities of ochre, normally red, to cover both the bodies of the dead and grave goods. They flourished between 5,000-3,000 years ago. Alternatively, they can be called by the period in which they lived, either the “Maritime Archaic” (emphasizing a coastal and seafaring culture) or “Late Archaic” (emphasizing time and leaving open the possibility of living inland seasonally), although these terms often cover the longer period from 9,000 years ago to 1000 CE. Multiple hypotheses exist as to which if any later peoples might be their descendants and there is little archaeological evidence to support any hypothesis. The Red Paint People lived, fished, and hunted along the coasts and rivers. Some coastal sites show evidence of year-round occupation, discrediting an older theory that these people were seasonal nomads, living the summers on the coast and the winters inland. Their diet included sea and migratory fish, shellfish, meat, berries, acorns, nuts, and roots. The Red Paint People had stone and bone tools, as well as boats capable of catching swordfish. No pottery or metal tools have been found in sites associated with this culture. Their trading range is known to have extended from Labrador to the New York side of Lake Champlain.” ref

The Swordfish Hunters: The History and Ecology of an Ancient American Sea People (VIDEO)

7,714-year-old grave of a young boy from the Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture and the L’Anse Amour Site in Labrador Canada is oldest known burial mound in North America. The body was wrapped in a shroud of bark or hide and placed face down in the grave with his head facing to the west. At that point, a large mound of rocks was erected over his burial place. The burnt patches on either side of the body under the mound is charcoal from fires that would have been set north and south of the body in a sacred ritual. The Red Paint People are a Pre-Columbian culture indigenous to the New England and Atlantic Canada regions of North America in which they mainly flourished between 5,000-3,000 years ago. On the west side, it looks like a mound of rocks but from the East Side, there is a small dolmen-like chamber opening. A dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, with a large flat stone laid on upright ones and the oldest known are found in Western Europe, dating from around 7,000 years ago. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

My thoughts on Dolmen origins and migrations, as well as Snail Shell Middens or Snail Burials/Turtle Shell Burials, and links from “Y-DNA R (R1a, R1b, and R2a)” migrations

Shell Mounds, Dolmens, Kurgans, Earth Mounds, Ziggurats, Mastabas, Pyramids: their origins, evolutions, and migrations

 Labrador region of Canada  

Link for Pictures: link 

“The L’Anse Amour burial was a circular mound, constructed of large flagstones. Careful excavation revealed the skeleton of a young boy, lying buried several meters below the surface, at the heart of the mound. Offerings buried with the boy included what appeared to be a set of hunting tools – perhaps for hunting walrus. The kit contained stone and bone spearheads, a walrus ivory toggling harpoon head and hand toggle, ceremonial paint objects and a bird-bone whistle. It is intriguing to suppose that the boy may have been killed while on a walrus hunt.” ref  

“Megalithic “dolmen” tomb in the Golan, it is possible that the megalithic landscape of the Golan is analogous to the megalithic landscapes of Europe, which developed as palimpsests of short, disparate episodes of megalithic construction over long periods of time. Focusing on dolmens in Jordan, there is a distinct spatial relationship between dolmen fields and settlement sites that were occupied in the Early Bronze I. Furthermore, there is also a clear correspondence in size, where small dolmen fields are found near small Early Bronze I settlement sites, and large dolmen fields are found near large sites. Yet this correlation is not absolute. While dolmens are always found near Early Bronze I settlements, not all Early Bronze I settlements are found near dolmens. Dolmen cemeteries are separated by large areas such as the Wadi Yarmouk that were also settled in the 4th millennium BCE, but in which no dolmens are found. If the distribution of dolmens was solely related to the Early Bronze I settlement landscape, then why are dolmens found close to some Early Bronze I settlement sites but not others?” ref 

“‘An answer lies in understanding the distribution of dolmens within the geological landscape. The Golan and Leja are characterized by hard lava flows. And Dolmens are found in areas dominated by hard sandstone, limestone and basalt formations that are conducive to the extraction of large slabs, and are absent in areas dominated by softer chalks and marls that are suitable for the excavation of subterranean chambers. In short, there’s a distinct correlation between dolmens and Early Bronze I settlements in areas dominated by microcrystalline strata, and a marked absence of dolmens in areas where softer strata are found, even if these areas were also settled in the 4th millennium BCE.” ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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PNAS February 26, 2019,  Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe 

“There are ∼35,000 presently extant European megaliths, a term which is derived from Greek μέγας (mégas), “big,” and λίϑος (líthos), “stone.” These include megalithic tombs, standing stones, stone circles, alignments, and megalithic buildings or temples. Most of these were constructed during the Neolithic and the Copper Ages and are located in coastal areas. Their distribution is along the so-called Atlantic façade, including Sweden, Denmark, North Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, northwest France, northern Spain, and Portugal, and in the Mediterranean region, including southern and southeastern Spain, southern France, the Islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and the Balearics, Apulia, northern Italy, and Switzerland. Interestingly, they share similar or even identical architectonic features throughout their distribution. Megalithic graves were built as dolmens and as passage or gallery graves. Thousands of anthropogenic erected stones either stand isolated in the landscapes or were arranged as circles or in rows. There is evidence all across Europe for an orientation of the graves toward the east or southeast in the direction of the rising Sun. The question therefore arises whether there was a single, original source from which a megalithic movement spread over Europe or regional phenomena developed independently due to a similar set of conditions.” ref 

“According to study was conducted by Bettina Schulz Paulsson, a prehistoric archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, European megaliths can be traced back to a single hunter-gatherer culture that originated nearly 7,000 years ago in what’s today the Brittany region of northwestern France.” ref 

“From 10,000-8,000 years ago, Sweden as a whole became populated by people who lived by hunting, gathering and fishing, and who used simple stone tools. Dwelling places and graves dating from the Stone Age, lasting until about 3,800 years ago, are found today in increasing numbers. The Bronze Age was marked in the Nordic region – especially in Denmark but also in Sweden – by a high level of culture, shown by the artifacts found in graves. After 2,500 years ago, such artifacts become increasingly rare as iron came into more general use. During the early Iron Age, the population of Sweden became settled, and agriculture came to form the basis of the economy and society.” ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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I don’t think they crossed the Atlantic Ocean across the water but by land going both directions from Asia west to Europe as well as east crossing the Bering Strait, between Asia and The Americas.

Megalithic tombs in western and northern Neolithic Europe were linked to a kindred society

“A new phenomenon of constructing distinctive funerary monuments, collectively known as megalithic tombs, emerged around 4500 BCE along the Atlantic façade. The megalithic phenomenon has attracted interest and speculation since medieval times. In particular, the origin, dispersal dynamics, and the role of these constructions within the societies that built them have been debated. We generate genome sequence data from 24 individuals buried in five megaliths and investigate the population history and social dynamics of the groups that buried their dead in megalithic monuments across northwestern Europe in the fourth millennium BCE. Our results show kin relations among the buried individuals and an overrepresentation of males, suggesting that at least some of these funerary monuments were used by patrilineal societies.” ref

“Paleogenomic and archaeological studies show that Neolithic lifeways spread from the Fertile Crescent into Europe around 9000 BCE, reaching northwestern Europe by 4000 BCE. Starting around 4500 BCE, a new phenomenon of constructing megalithic monuments, particularly for funerary practices, emerged along the Atlantic façade. While it has been suggested that the emergence of megaliths was associated with the territories of farming communities, the origin and social structure of the groups that erected them has remained largely unknown. We generated genome sequence data from human remains, corresponding to 24 individuals from five megalithic burial sites, encompassing the widespread tradition of megalithic construction in northern and western Europe, and analyzed our results in relation to the existing European paleogenomic data. The various individuals buried in megaliths show genetic affinities with local farming groups within their different chronological contexts. Individuals buried in megaliths display (past) admixture with local hunter-gatherers, similar to that seen in other Neolithic individuals in Europe. In relation to the tomb populations, we find significantly more males than females buried in the megaliths of the British Isles. The genetic data show close kin relationships among the individuals buried within the megaliths, and for the Irish megaliths, we found a kin relation between individuals buried in different megaliths. We also see paternal continuity through time, including the same Y-chromosome haplotypes reoccurring. These observations suggest that the investigated funerary monuments were associated with patrilineal kindred groups. Our genomic investigation provides insight into the people associated with this long-standing megalith funerary tradition, including their social dynamics.” ref

Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe

“The radiocarbon dates suggest that the first megalithic graves in Europe were closed small structures or dolmens built aboveground with stone slabs and covered by a round or long mound of earth or stone. These graves emerge in the second half of the fifth millennium calibrated years (cal) BC within a time interval of 4794 cal BC to 3986 cal BC (95.4%; 4770 cal BC to 4005 cal BC, 68.2%) (Dataset S3, M7-2 to M29-4), which can be reduced most probably to 200 y to 300 y, in northwest France, the Channel Islands, Catalonia, southwestern France, Corsica, and Sardinia. Taking the associated cultural material into consideration, megalithic graves from Andalusia, Galicia, and northern Italy presumably belong to this first stage (Fig. 3). There are no radiocarbon dates available from the early megalithic graves in these regions, or their calibrated ranges show an onset extending into the fourth millennium cal BC, as is the case for Galicia. Of these regions, northwest France is the only one which exhibits monumental earthen constructions before the megaliths (SI Appendix, Fig. S2).” ref

“The Passy graves in the Paris Basin have no megalithic chamber yet, but are impressive labor-intensive structures with a length of up to 280 m. These graves seem to be the earliest monumental graves in Europe; the first individual buried in the Passy necropolis died in 5061 cal BC to 4858 cal BC (95.4%; 5029 cal BC to 4946 cal BC, 68.2%) (Dataset S3, M1-4). Somewhat later, the first monumental graves emerge in Brittany, and especially in the region of Carnac, in the form of round tumuli covering pit burials, stone cists, and dry-wall chambers. The first building phase of the tumulus St. Michel in Carnac is dated to the time interval 4782 cal BC to 4594 cal BC (95.4; 4724 cal BC to 4618 cal BC, 68.2%) (Dataset S3, M4-2 to M4-4). The earliest megalithic grave chambers in Brittany, such as Tumiac, Kervinio, Castellic, St. Germain, Manio 5, Mané Hui, and Kerlescan (14–16), emerge within this horizon as an architectonic feature of monumental long and round mounds. For these early megaliths, no radiocarbon determinations are available. It is only possible to limit the time interval of construction to the Ancient Castellic horizon based on the typochronological considerations of the grave goods and according to Ancient Castellic contexts with associated radiocarbon results ranging from 4794 cal BC to 3999 cal BC (95.4%; 4770 cal BC to 4034 cal BC, 68.2%) (Dataset S3, M7-2 to M7-7).” ref

The first monumental cemeteries of western Europe : the „Passy type“ necropolis in the Paris basin around 4500 BCE

“In the Seine-Yonne basin at around 4500 B.C. numerous cemeteries appeared, including giant “enclosures” which as a funerary manifestation would have no later equivalent in Europe. These constructions, whether tumuli, palisade enclosures, or mixed systems, sometimes exceed 300 m in length but contain very few burials. Beyond the classic interpretation, which sees high investment in a few individuals as reflecting a hierarchical society, structural analysis of these cemeteries shows the repetition of an elementary module, associated with consistent attributes, evoking hunting and more broadly, the wild. An exercise of association and exclusion brings into play the morphology and arrangements of the monuments, the gender of the inhumed individuals and their attributes. In the male monuments, a central figure is thus distinguished, sometimes with original physical characteristics and accompanied by an enigmatic insignia: a pointed bone instrument with a wide base, trivially called an “Eiffel Tower”. This figure is surrounded by other individuals interpreted as hunters on the basis of the accompanying objects. Other individuals probably served as no more than passive figurants, rather like foils. In any case, the monumental cemeteries of the 5th millennium correspond to the earliest human groups for which we can identify diverse and repetitive statuses.” ref

No ‘lost tribes’ or aliens: what ancient DNA reveals about American prehistory

“New genetics research settles questions about the peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador. Genetic Discontinuity between the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk Populations in Newfoundland, Canada which addresses the genetic diversity within three different ancient groups who lived in Newfoundland and Labrador.  One reason this region is of particular interest is that it’s on the furthest northeastern margin of North America and so was one of the last areas in the Americas to be peopled. It appears to have been occupied successively by three culturally distinct groups beginning about 10,000 years ago in Labrador and 6,000 years ago in Newfoundland: the Maritime Archaic, the Paleo-Inuit (also referred to as the Paleo-Eskimo), and the indigenous peoples that Europeans called the Beothuk. Today the region is home to several indigenous groups, including the Inuit, the Innu, the Mi’kmaq and the Southern Inuit of NunatuKavut.”  ref

“The members of the Maritime Archaic tradition created the oldest known burial mounds in North America (dating to 7,714 years ago) and subsisted upon coastal marine resources. Approximately 3,400 years ago they seem to have abandoned Newfoundland, either in response to the appearance of Paleo-Inuit in the region or because of climate changes. The Paleo-Inuit’s presence on the island overlapped with the peoples referred to as the Beothuk beginning around 2,000 years ago. The Beothuk encountered European settlers in 1500 AD, and in response to their presence gradually moved to the interior of the island, where their populations declined. Apart from that single exception, the Maritime Archaic, Paleo-Inuit, and Beothuk are clearly genetically distinctive from one another. However, it’s important to note that this study was done on mitochondrial DNA, which is exclusively matrilineally inherited, and so we can only say that the three groups were not maternally related.” ref

“In the case of Newfoundland, the three groups were genetically distinct; they do not share any maternal haplogroups except for haplogroup X2a, lineages of which were found in both the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk. (The presence of haplogroup X2a in North American populations has sometimes been cited as evidence for European ancestry in ancient Americans. If you’re interested in why I and most other geneticists specializing in Native American populations disagree with that, you can read about it here).” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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6810-5750-Years-Old Teviec, Sacrificed, Shaman Burial Site in France

This is the sacred grave of two women who died violently, were found at Teviec, buried under a “roof” of antlers and honored by shells (like stars of the afterlife?) as well as decorated with necklaces made of shells including a bracelet. ref

“The island is one of only a few known Mesolithic sites in Brittany, along with Pointe de la Torche, Hoëdic and Beg er Vil on the Quiberon peninsula. During the Mesolithic period, the sea level was much lower and it was possible to walk from France to England, and Téviec was situated in a lagoon.” ref

“Extensive middens were found near places of habitation on the island, containing the remains of shellfish, crustaceans, squid, fish, birds, cetaceans, and terrestrial mammals including wild boar, red deer, roe deer, dogs, and so on. The hunter-gatherers of Téviec buried their own dead in the middens. This helped to preserve the graves, as the carbonates from the shells in the middens insulated human bones from the acid soil.” ref

“Many tools made of bone and antler were found along with numerous flint microliths. They were originally believed to date to between 6740 and 5680 years BP. This indicates a longer occupation than previously thought, with its end coming at the beginning of the Neolithic period. Ten multiple graves were discovered at Téviec containing a total of 23 individuals, including adults and children.” ref

“Some of the remains were scattered between different locations. Several of those interred appear to have died violent deaths. One individual was found to have a flint arrowhead stuck in a vertebra. In another grave, the skeletons of two women aged 25–35, dubbed the “ladies of Téviec”, were found with signs of violence on both. One had sustained five blows to the head, two of which would have been fatal, and had received at least one arrow shot between the eyes. The other had also traces of injuries. However, this diagnosis is disputed by some archaeologists, who have suggested that the weight of earth above the grave may have been responsible for damaging the skeletons.” ref

“The bodies had been buried with great care in a pit that was partly dug into the ground and covered over with debris from the midden. They had been protected by a roof made of antlers and provided with a number of grave goods including pieces of flint and boar bones, and jewelry made of seashells drilled and assembled into necklaces, bracelets, and ringlets for the legs. The grave assemblage was excavated from the site in one piece and is now on display at the Muséum de Toulouse, where its restoration in 2010 earned a national award.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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My thoughts on Mound origins, in seeming Shell Mounds, and likely religious beliefs in Primordial Waters, Earth Diver Myths, and Mound of Creation, centering on Siberia: Golden Mountains of Altai and Lake Baikal areas

Prehistoric Pacific Northwest: Shell Mounds, Culture, Religion, Migrations, Languages, Clans, Power/Elites, Inequality, and Slavery

Indigenous Pre-Columbian Brazilian Shell Mounds and Amazonian Earthworks, Q-DNA migrations and the Spread of Culture and Religious thinking

My thoughts on the Origin of the Mound Builders of the Americas: mainly C-Y-DNA in the Mounds of North America and mainly Q-Y-DNA in the Mounds of South America, and their seeming connections to mounds all over the world

Shell Mounds, Earth Mounds, Raised Platforms, and Pyramids: which I think are somewhat related in mythology thinking and culture beliefs

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Shamanism and the Peopling of the Americas: Pre-Paleoindians/Paleoamericans around 30,000 to 12,000 years ago and beyond.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe, as well as a hub for Shamanism

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Between 7,000-5,000 Years ago, rise of unequal hierarchy elite, leading to a “birth of the State” or worship of power, strong new sexism, oppression of non-elites, and the fall of Women’s equal status

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Religious/Ritual Ideas, including goddesses and gods as well as ritual mounds or pyramids from Northeastern Asia at least 6,000 years old, seemingly filtering to Iran, Iraq, the Mediterranean, Europe, Egypt, and the Americas?

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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C-M217 Na-Dene and Yeniseian Languages and Religion relatedness from Asia connecting to the Americas

Dené–Yeniseian language, Old Copper Complex, and Pre-Columbian Mound Builders?

Haplogroup X (mtDNA) 

“Haplogroup X is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. It is found in America, Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. The genetic sequences of haplogroup X diverged originally from haplogroup N. They subsequently further diverged thousands of years ago, forming two sub-groups, X1 and X2. Sub-group X2 appears to have undergone extensive population expansion and dispersal around or soon after the Last Glacial Maximum, about 21,000 years ago. It is more strongly present in the Near East, the Caucasus, and Southern Europe and somewhat less strongly present in the rest of Europe. Particular concentrations appear in Georgia(8%), Orkney (in Scotland) (7%), and amongst the Israeli Druze community (27%). Subclades X2a and X2g are found in North America. Haplogroup X is also one of the five haplogroups found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas of which the subclades X2a and X2g are found in North America. Discoveries of haplogroup X2a and subgroups have been more widely geographically dispersed.”  ref 

“The position of X2a in the phylogenetic tree suggests an early split from the other X2 clades, likely at the very beginning of their expansion and spread from the Near East. It is notable that X2 includes the two complete Native American X sequences that constitute the distinctive X2a clade, a clade that lacks close relatives in the entire Old World, including Siberia.” ref 

“Without conflicting evidence the most convincing explanation of  Subclades X2a migration is the “Beringian model”, and X2a has not been found anywhere in Eurasia, and phylogeography gives us no compelling reason to think it is more likely to come from Europe than from Siberia. Furthermore, analysis of the complete genome of Kennewick Man, who belongs to the most basal lineage of X2a yet identified, gives no indication of recent European ancestry and moves the location of the deepest branch of X2a to the West Coast, consistent with X2a belonging to the same ancestral population as the other founder mitochondrial haplogroups. Nor have any high-resolution studies of genome-wide data from Native American populations yielded any evidence of Pleistocene European ancestry or trans-Atlantic gene flow.” ref   

“X2a (and the related, rare haplogroup X2g) is a uniquely North American haplogroup, found at the highest frequencies in Great Lakes populations and at lower frequencies in the Plains and Pacific Northwest. It appears to be completely absent in populations from Central and South America. “Distinctive Paleo-Indian migration routes from Beringia marked by two rare mtDNA haplogroups. Its presence in pre-European contact skeletal remains confirms that it was not the result of post-1492 admixture.” ref 

“However, unlike the other American mitochondrial haplogroups (A–D), which have clear parental haplotypes persisting in contemporary Siberian populations, there is no clear record of the evolutionary history of X2a in any population. X2a’s “grand-parental” haplogroup, X2, is found throughout, at low levels today throughout much of the world, including in the Near East (where X is more common and therefore thought to have initially evolved), South Caucasus, Europe, Siberia, Central Asia, and North Africa. It is important to note that while the Altai people in southern Siberia exhibit X2, their lineages are not ancestral to those of North Americans, and the presence of X2 there today appears to be the result of recent gene flow from the west.” ref 

“Thus, the intermediate lineages linking X2 and X2a appear to have been lost in contemporary populations, or are so rare that they have not yet been well studied. We might expect to find them in ancient populations, but our temporal and spatial coverage of ancient populations is still quite sparse. X2a in North America has been cited as evidence for two different trans-Atlantic migrations before European contact. X2a is not found in the Middle East, and none of the X2 lineages present in the Middle East are immediately ancestral to X2a, the date of coalescence for X2a (14,200–17,000 years ago). The highest percentages of the X2 clade, higher even than Native American populations, is found in the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland. However, the X2 haplotypes found in the Orkney Islands was not the same nor ancestral to X2a, so this particular observation is irrelevant to the genetic prehistory of the Americas. And at this time, there is simply no evidence that X2a evolved in the Near East, Europe, or anywhere in West Eurasia.” ref  

• X2a: found among Native North Americans
  • X2a1
    • X2a1a: found among the Sioux and Tanoan speakers
      • X2a1a1
    • X2a1b: found among the Ojibwe people
      • X2a1b1
        • X2a1b1a
    • X2a1c: found among the Ojibwe people
  • X2a2: found in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland 
• X2g: found among the Ojibwe people ref  

“The Native American–specific clade X2a appears to be defined by five mutations, three in the coding region (8913, 12397, and 14502) and two in the control region (200 and 16213) (fig). The transition at np 200 was seen in virtually all previously analyzed Native American haplogroup X mtDNAs, whereas the transition at np 16213 was absent in some of the Ojibwa. We surveyed our Old World haplogroup X mtDNAs for the five diagnostic X2a mutations (table) and found a match only for the transition at np 12397 in a single X2* sequence from Iran.” ref 

“In a parsimony tree, this Iranian mtDNA would share a common ancestor with the Native American clade (fig). Yet, the nonsynonymous substitution at np 12397 converting threonine to alanine cannot be regarded a conservative marker, as it has also been observed in two different phylogenetic contexts—in haplogroups J1 and L3e—among 794 complete mtDNA sequences. Therefore, the scenario that the threonine to alanine change in the haplogroup X background is indeed due to recurrence appears most plausible.” ref 

These findings leave unanswered the question of the geographic source of Native American X2a in the Old World, although our analysis provides new clues about the time of the arrival of haplogroup X in the Americas. Indeed, if we assume that the two complete Native American X sequences (from one Navajo and one Ojibwa) began to diverge while their common ancestor was already in the Americas, we obtain a coalescence time of 18,000 ± 6,800 YBP, implying an arrival time not later than 11,000 YBP. ” ref 

Brittany; Breton is a cultural region in the west of France 

Picture Link: ref

“The late Mesolithic sites of Tdviec and Hoedic, located on what are now small islands off the Breton coast, provide evidence for elaborate burial practices, and may be precursors of  the megalithic tradition of Brittany and western Europe in general. The shell middens TQviec and Hoedic are located on what are now small islands in the Bay of Quiberon in Brittany, off the Atlantic coast of northwest France. An abundant microlithic industry and a  single radiocarbon estimate places them in the late Mesolithic. Teviec and Hoedic are roughly  contemporaneous, based on similarities in tool typology and burial practices. A single radio-carbon determination on charcoal from a hearth in the lower part of the midden at Hoedic provides an estimate of 6575+350 years ago.” ref

“The sites are best known for their evidence of elaborate burial practices, with stone and red-deer antler structures, evidence for ceremonial burning and feasting, and abundant and varied grave goods. Together they constitute some two-thirds of known French Mesolithic burials. Teviec and Hoedic are critical to our understanding of the late Mesolithic and the transition to the Neolithic. The sites are part of the phenomenon of increasing ‘complexity’ in the late Mesolithic of northwest Europe: they also fill a geographical gap between the cemeteries of south-central Portugal and those of southern Scandinavia.” ref

The burials themselves mainly remain undated. The large standard error of  this date limits its usefulness; at two standard deviations it overlaps dates for Breton early Neolithic passage-graves and long mounds at around 5,700 years ago. No stratigraphic breaks were noted within the Mesolithic levels at either site, and the materials recovered were described as homogeneous throughout the 0.5 to 1.0 m of deposits. Neolithic deposits were encountered at Hoedic, but the 0.3 to 0.5 m of Mesolithic deposits were apparently entirely sealed by a layer of sterile gravel. Unfortunately, the rise in sea-levels from Atlantic times means that the sites must be looked at in isolation the now-submerged coastal plain on which they were high points was undoubtedly the focus of Mesolithic settlement in the area. Additional Mesolithic sites in Brittany include both shell-midden sites and many more non-shell-midden sites.  With a 10-m drop in sea level around 6,000 years ago

“Many tools made of bone and antler were found along with numerous flint microliths dated to between 6,740-5,680 years ago. The hunter-gatherers of Téviec often buried their own dead in the middens. Extensive middens were found near places of habitation on the island, containing the remains of shellfish, crustaceans, squid, fish, birds, cetaceans and terrestrial mammals including wild boar, red deer, roe deer, dogs and so on. During the Mesolithic period, the sea level was much lower – it was possible to walk from France to England– and Téviec was situated in a lagoon.” ref

“Ten multiple graves were discovered at Téviec containing a total of 23 individuals, including adults and children. Some of the remains were scattered between different locations. Several of those interred appear to have died violent deaths. One individual was found to have a flint arrowhead stuck in a vertebra. In another grave, the skeletons of two women aged 25–35, dubbed the “ladies of Téviec”, were found with signs of violence on both. One had sustained five blows to the head, two of which would have been fatal, and had received at least one arrow shot between the eyes. The other had also traces of injuries. However, this diagnosis is disputed by some archaeologists, who have suggested that the weight of earth above the grave may have been responsible for damaging the skeletons. The bodies had been buried with great care in a pit that was partly dug into the ground and covered over with debris from the midden. They had been protected by a roof made of antlers and provided with a number of grave goods including pieces of flint and boar bones, and jewellery made of sea shells drilled and assembled into necklaces, bracelets and ringlets for the legs.” ref 

Picture Links: ref 

“The sample set included a Maritime Archaic subadult more than 7,700 years old found in the L’Anse Amour burial mound, the oldest known burial mound in North America and one of the first manifestations of the Maritime Archaic tradition. Indigenous people have been on the far northeastern edge of Canada for most of the last 10,000 years, moving in shortly after the ice retreated from the Last Glacial Maximum. Archaeological evidence suggests that people with distinct cultural traditions inhabited the region at least three different times with a possible hiatus for a period between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago. And based purely on mitochondrial DNA, that the Maritime Archaic were not the direct ancestors of the Beothuk and that the two groups did not share a very recent common ancestor, implying that the island of Newfoundland was populated multiple times by distinct groups. These data clearly suggest that the Maritime Archaic people are not the direct maternal ancestors of the Beothuk and thus that the population history of the island involves multiple independent arrivals by indigenous peoples followed by habitation for many generations.” ref 

“Situated at the furthest northeastern edge of Canada, the island of Newfoundland (approximately 110,000 km2 ) and Labrador (approximately 295,000 km2 ) today constitute a province characterized by abundant natural resources but low population density. Both landmasses were covered by the Laurentide ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (18,000 years ago); after the glacier retreated, ice patches remained on the island until ca. 9,000 years ago. Nevertheless, indigenous peoples, whose ancestors had trekked some 5,000 km/3107 miles from the west coast, arrived approximately 10,000 years ago in Labrador and around 6,000 years ago in Newfoundland. Differential features in material culture indicate at least three settlement episodes by distinct cultural groups, including the Maritime Archaic, Palaeoeskimo, and Beothuk. Newfoundland has remained home to indigenous peoples until present day with only one apparent hiatus (3,400–2,800 years ago). This record suggests abandonment, severe constriction, or local extinction followed by subsequent immigrations from single or multiple source populations, but the specific dynamics and the cultural and biological relationships, if any, among these successive peoples remain enigmatic. By examining the mitochondrial genome diversity and isotopic ratios of 74 ancient remains in conjunction with the archaeological record, we have provided definitive evidence for the genetic discontinuity between the maternal lineages of these populations. This northeastern margin of North America appears to have been populated multiple times by distinct groups that did not share a recent common ancestry, but rather one much deeper in time at the entry point into the continent.” ref  

“Research into the mitochondrial diversity of indigenous peoples of the Americas has identified four major haplogroups found throughout North, Central, and South America: A2, B2, C1 (specifically C1b, C1c, and C1d, which are distinct from the C1e and C1f haplogroups found in Northern Europe), and D1. There are additional minor founding lineages with more restricted distributions, such as haplogroup X2, found exclusively in North America; haplogroups D2 and D3, associated with Arctic populations; and other low-frequency haplogroups, such as C4c and D4h3a. Importantly, the sum of the genetic studies to date make it clear that these primary founder lineages migrated  southward from Beringia, (defined as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada) sometime before 14,000 years ago, most likely by way of a coastal or interior route made available by receding ice sheets.” ref 

“Two ancient populations that diverged later ‘reconverged’ in the Americas.  A new genetic study of ancient individuals in the Americas and their contemporary descendants finds that two populations that diverged from one another 18,000 to 15,000 years ago remained apart for millennia before mixing again. This historic; reconvergence; occurred before or during their expansion to the southern continent.” ref

“A 12,700-year-old Anzick Child, the remains of Paleo-Indian male infant found in south-central Montana, United States. The child was found with more than 115 tools made of stone and antlers and dusted with red ocher, suggesting an honorary burial. Similar to an ancient burial pit in Alaska with a girl was just six weeks old when she died. Her body was buried on a bed of antler points and red ocher, and she lay undisturbed for 11,500 years. The child’s genome from her remains. The second-oldest human genome ever found in North America, it sheds new light on how people — among them, the ancestors of living Native Americans — first arrived in the Western Hemisphere and strongly supports the idea that the Americas were settled by migrants from Siberia. Atop a hearth dating back 11,500 years were the cremated bones of a 3-year-old child. Digging into the hearth itself, archaeologists discovered the remains of two infants.” ref, ref 

“They found that Anzick-1’s mtDNA belongs to the haplogroup D4h3a, a “founder” haplogroup that might represent people taking an early coastal migration route into the Americas. The D haplogroup is also found in modern Native American populations, which provides a link between Anzick-1 and modern Native Americans. Although it is rare in most of today’s Native Americans in the US and Canada, D4h3a genes are more common in native people of South America. Moreover,  Anzick-1 was sequenced, and researchers determined that his y-chromosome haplogroup is Q-L54*(xM3), one of the major founding lineages of the Americas.” ref 

“However, the manner in which the first indigenous peoples spread throughout the American continents and their shifting occupations of various regions after their arrival remains, not surprisingly, much less clear. Each of the mtDNA genomes recovered from the samples included in this study belongs to one of the well-established founder lineages. The haplogroup diversity in the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk is high. In this respect, they contrast sharply with Dorset Palaeoeskimo, who occupied a wider geographic range but seem to have carried only a single haplogroup. Notably, although no comparative data of similar scale are available from ancient indigenous populations of the Americas, populations for which multiple samples have been sequenced also appear to have limited genetic diversity. Most strikingly, the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk populations do not share a single haplotype, and they have no direct descent relationship, with the possible exception of the X2a1-X2a1b lineage. In this context, the recovery of several lineages of X2a from these samples is noteworthy. The mtDNA of Kennewick Man from Washington State, dated to ca. 8,800 years ago, has recently been typed as a basal, ancestral variant of X2a. Though this basal variant is not present in any of our Newfoundland samples, derived variants of it are found in both the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk. These data support an ancient origin of X2a in an early northern indigenous population whose descendants had expanded from the northern Pacific to the northern Atlantic coasts of North America as early as ca. 4,000 years ago.” ref 

“8,500-year-old Kennewick Man, found in Washington state showed that he belonged to haplogroup X2a but had no indication of recent European ancestry throughout the rest of his genome.” ref  

Picture Links: ref  

“Beginning around 3,500 years ago, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples who first migrated from Labrador to present-day Newfoundland around AD 1. The ancestors of this group had three earlier cultural phases, each lasting approximately 500 years. DNA from the teeth of Demasduit and her husband Nonosabasut, two Beothuk individuals who had died in the 1820s. The results assigned them to Haplogroup X (mtDNA) and Haplogroup C (mtDNA), respectively, which are also found in current Mi’kmaq populations in Newfoundland. It also demonstrated they were solely of First Nation indigenous maternal ancestry, unlike some earlier studies that suggested European admixture. However, the analysis also showed that although the two Beothuk and living Mi’kmaq occur in the same haplogroups, SNP differences between Beothuk and Mi’kmaq individuals indicated that they were dissimilar within those groups, and that a “close relationship” was not supported.” ref 

Maritime Archaic Tradition

“The Maritime Archaic is a North American cultural complex of the Late Archaic along the coast of Newfoundland, the Canadian Maritimes and northern New England. The culture consisted of sea-mammal hunters in the subarctic who used wooden boats. Maritime Archaic sites have been found as far south as Maine and as far north as Labrador. Their settlements included longhouses, and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses. They engaged in long-distance trade, as shown by white chert from northern Labrador being found as far south as Maine. The Maritime Archaic is one cultural complex among several of the Archaic stage for North American peoples. Archaeogenetic research established, that the Maritime Archaic people had nothing in common with the Inuit, nor with Beothuk Indians, who later inhabited the same area after the climatic conditions changed.” ref 

“Another significant Maritime Archaic find are the “Red Ochre Culture” burials throughout the Northeast United States. They may represent the last phases of the Maritime Archaic, as they contain significant finds of white chert artifacts common to other Maritime Archaic sites. This issue is currently debated among scholars. If the hypothesis of the Red Ochre as the last state of the Maritime Archaic period is accepted, then the latter is best known from a mortuary site in Newfoundland at Port au Choix. This site revealed over 100 graves embellished with red ochre. The graves contained many elaborate artifacts, including barbed bone points; daggers of ivory, antler, or bone; toggling harpoons; shell-beaded clothing; and a burial suit made from more than 200 skins of the now-extinct great auk. These finds indicated a stratified society with trade and some level of social complexity.” ref 

Archaeologists recognize two variants of the Maritime Archaic tradition called the Northern and Southern branches. 

*The Northern Branch

“Northern branch people were the earlier of the two variants to arrive in the province. They are descended from the earliest people along the Labrador Straits and their maritime adaptation is obvious by about 7,500 years ago. Excavation of a burial mound at L’Anse Amour in southern Labrador revealed a walrus tusk, fish bones, a true toggling harpoon, an antler toggle or handle and other objects that indicate a reliance on marine resources by this time. Both the mound and the harpoon are among the oldest in the world. Once established in southern Labrador, Maritime Archaic people continued to spread northward until, by about 5,000 years ago they had reached Saglek and Ramah Bays in far northern Labrador. In the latter area they discovered the source of a distinctive stone called “Ramah chert”, from which they fashioned their chipped stone tools and weapons for the next 2,500 years. A series of archaeological “complexes” dating between 7,500 and 3,500 years ago indicates a long in situ evolution along most of the coast of Labrador.” ref 

“Throughout this time, skillfully flaked stone spear points with narrow blades and long, tapering stems for hafting were made from Ramah chert. Other chipped stone tools include knives and scrapers, some of the former of truly impressive proportions. Stone was ground and polished to make axes, adzes and gouges for working wood. Polished slate lance points were used to dispatch wounded sea mammals. Ulus, or half-moon shaped knives, and knives of more familiar forms were used to prepare skins and dress game. We can only imagine what objects were made from bone, antler, ivory wood, skin, bark, and other organic materials. They must have included frames for dwellings, harpoon and spear shafts, tailored clothing, bark and wood containers and many others. Some authorities believe that the Maritime Archaic people may have made large dugout boats in areas where wood was available or could be traded for. Ornaments include cut mica, soapstone pendants, or plummets, and large blades made from Ramah chert that must have served ceremonial, rather than utilitarian, functions.” ref 

“Although very few traces of food bone remain in the acid soils of Labrador, those that have been recovered and the location of Maritime Archaic campsites and villages all indicate a reliance on marine resources. Fish, seals, seabirds, walrus, and perhaps even small whales were hunted regularly. Land mammals, particularly caribou, seem also to have been important for food, antler, bone and skins. At least one large seasonal village, at Nulliak in northern Labrador, seems to have been established for communal caribou hunting. “Drive lanes” consisting of rows of piled rocks may have channeled migrating caribou virtually into the hunters’ campsite. In suitable areas houses were made by excavating depressions into boulder beaches. At some sites, where the retreating sea level left a series of raised beaches, house forms can be seen to have evolved from single family dwellings to communal dwellings consisting of a number of “rooms” arranged in a linear fashion along the beach. These dwellings reached their peak at the Nulliak site, where “longhouses” as long as 100m have been discovered.” ref 

“About 4,000 years ago a new people – the Palaeo-Eskimos – arrived in northern Labrador. As these strangers became more familiar with Labrador and continued to expand southward, the Maritime Archaic people seem to disappear at the same time. Although the two events could be coincidental, many archaeologists believe that the Palaeo-Eskimos were more successful in competing for resources and the best campsites. Whatever the cause, the Northern Branch Maritime Archaic people disappear from the archaeological record not long after 3,500 years ago. If any groups survived after that time, their whereabouts has escaped the intensive archaeological research on the Labrador coast.” ref 

*The Southern Branch

“The origins of the Southern Branch Maritime Archaic people are obscure. Shortly before 6,000 years ago a new stone tool complex appears in southern Labrador. The people who made these tools preferred locally-available cherts and rhyolites to the quartz, quartzite and Ramah chert of the Northern branch people. By about 5,000 or 4,500 years ago these people had become established on the coast of southern Labrador and parts of the central coast. They made spear points with broad blades and side-notches for hafting. Flaked knives, scrapers and expedient tools were made from the same local materials. A few sites have produced ground stone axes, adzes and gouges, as well as polished slate spears and lances. Their house types are not known; only traces of stone fireplaces, sometimes arranged in a row along ancient beach terraces, have been found.” ref 

“The Southern branch people were the first humans to colonize the Island of Newfoundland. By at least 5,000 years ago they had established themselves on the Northern Peninsula and within a millennium their campsites are to be found virtually around the entire Newfoundland coastline. In general it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Maritime Archaic people were remarkably well adapted to life in Newfoundland – from their technology and economy to their intellectual culture.” ref 

“The most instructive Maritime Archaic site yet excavated is that at Port au Choix where the regular arrival of migrating harp seals each spring provided a reliable and predictable food source. In 1968 a large site containing hundreds of artifacts was excavated. In contrast to most other locations, the soil at Port au Choix permits the preservation of organic material. Artifacts of bone, ivory and antler provide some indication of the elaborate and sophisticated technology of the Southern branch Maritime Archaic people. Toggling and barbed harpoons, bird darts and fish spears of bone and antler, and a series of polished bone and slate spear and lance points, all suggest a technology perfectly suited to the Newfoundland environment. Scrapers and “beamers” of caribou bone, bone awls and fine needles made from split bird bones were used to prepare and sew hides into clothing. Stone gouges, axes and adzes, as well as small chisels and knives made from beaver incisors, were used to fell trees and convert the wood into products that we can only imagine.” ref 

“Many ornaments and magical or religious objects were also found at Port au Choix. The bills and feet of birds, teeth of bears, foxes, wolves and beaver, pins and pendants carved to resemble birds, a bear and even a human form were also recovered. Shell beads, pendants resembling swords and paddles, crystals of quartz, calcite and amethyst and any number of unusually-shaped stones may have served religious, as well as decorative, purposes. Many of these objects relate to the sea, for example a carved stone killer whale, a tooth from the same animal, and depictions of gulls, ducks, loons and the now-extinct great auk. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that certain individuals must have had some special symbolic relationships with these birds and mammals.” ref 

“In central and southern Labrador this successful adaptation seems to have persisted into the succeeding Intermediate Indian and Recent Indian periods. Some archaeologists believe that the Southern branch Maritime Archaic people may have been, in some way, the distant ancestors of today’s Innu. Despite the apparent success of the Southern branch people in Labrador, and the apparently well adjusted nature of their culture in Newfoundland, the residents of the Island of Newfoundland disappear from the archaeological record about 3,000 years ago. Archaeologists can cite no convincing influx of a new population at this time, as was the case with the Palaeo-Eskimos in northern Labrador. For the present the disappearance of the maritime Archaic people, and what seems to be a complete absence of Indian people from Newfoundland between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago remains one of the most puzzling mysteries in the Native history of the province.” ref 

The Swordfish Hunters: The History and Ecology of an Ancient American Sea People – amazon.com 

by Bruce Bourque (Author) 

“Thousands of years ago, Maine’s Red Paint People, so called because of the red ochre in their burial sites, were among the first maritime cultures in the Americas. They could have subsisted on easily caught cod, but they chose to capture dangerous and elusive swordfish. This book explains beautifully the prehistory of these people, the evolution of archaeological thinking about them, and the myriad new scientific threads that shed new light on this old culture.” ref 

“In the closing years of the nineteenth century, strange objects began to come out of the ground in Hancock County, Maine. They were quickly recognized as prehistoric artifacts of stone, but they were very unlike the spear tips and other small artifacts collectors gathered from coastal sites as they eroded into the sea. Many were large and finely crafted, some made of beautiful stone from far-off places. Strangest of all, they came from pits filled with a brilliant red powder called red ocher. These were ancient graves clustered into large cemeteries. Local naturalists brought these finds to the attention of a new breed of scientist–archaeologists who were busy developing their new science at the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnography at Harvard University.” ref 

“They began to visit and to excavate these sites and introduced them to the world in 1893 at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition. Between then and 1920, other archaeologists became involved, searching for and discovering more than a dozen new cemeteries. Museum collections grew quickly, but so did confusion about what kind of culture could have produced these wonderful objects. Then interest in the so-called Red Paint cemeteries waned as American archaeologists began to broaden their horizons to other continents. The mystery of the Red Paint People was left hanging. A half century later, as Maine archaeology was undergoing a revival, a new generation of archaeologists, armed with the analytical tools of modern science, once again turned their attention to the Red Paint People and reached some surprising conclusions.” ref 

“This book tells the story of the Red Paint People and the archaeologists who have tried to understand them for over a century. Interwoven with that story is one of scientific growth and evolution, as archaeologists have adopted new research models in collaboration with a broad range of natural scientists to flesh out the life story of a remarkable prehistoric culture: the swordfish hunters. Thousands of years ago, Maine’s Red Paint People were among the first maritime cultures in the Americas. They could have subsisted on easily caught cod, but they chose to capture dangerous and elusive swordfish.” ref 

 Shamanism (beginning around 30,000 years ago)
Shamanism (such as that seen in Siberia Gravettian culture: 30,000 years ago). Gravettian culture (34,000–24,000 years ago; Western Gravettian, mainly France, Spain, and Britain, as well as Eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians, which include the Pavlovian culture). And, the Pavlovian culture (31,000 – 25,000 years ago such as in Austria and Poland). 31,000 – 20,000 years ago Oldest Shaman was Female, Buried with the Oldest Portrait Carving.

Shamanism is approximately a 30,000-year-old belief system and believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife that can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects and these objects can be used by special persons or in special rituals that can connect to spirit-filled life and/or afterlife. If you believe like this, regardless of your faith, you are a hidden shamanist.

Around 29,000 to 25,000 years ago in Dolní Vestonice, Czech Republic, the oldest human face representation is a carved ivory female head that was found nearby a female burial and belong to the Pavlovian culture, a variant of the Gravettian culture. The left side of the figure’s face was a distorted image and is believed to be a portrait of an elder female, who was around 40 years old. She was ritualistically placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other. Surprisingly, the left side of the skull was disfigured in the same manner as the aforementioned carved ivory figure, indicating that the figure was an intentional depiction of this specific individual. The bones and the earth surrounding the body contained traces of red ocher, a flint spearhead had been placed near the skull, and one hand held the body of a fox. This evidence suggests that this was the burial site of a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture but also of evidence of early female shamans. Before 5,500 years ago, women were much more prominent in religion.

Archaeologists usually describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known namely from cave sites in France, Spain, and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians include the Pavlovian culture, which were specialized mammoth hunters and whose remains are usually found not in caves but in open air sites. The origins of the Gravettian people are not clear, they seem to appear simultaneously all over Europe. Though they carried distinct genetic signatures, the Gravettians and Aurignacians before them were descended from the same ancient founder population. According to genetic data, 37,000 years ago, all Europeans can be traced back to a single ‘founding population’ that made it through the last ice age. Furthermore, the so-called founding fathers were part of the Aurignacian culture, which was displaced by another group of early humans members of the Gravettian culture. Between 37,000 years ago and 14,000 years ago, different groups of Europeans were descended from a single founder population. To a greater extent than their Aurignacian predecessors, they are known for their Venus figurines. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, & ref

If you are a religious believer, may I remind you that faith in the acquisition of knowledge is not a valid method worth believing in. Because, what proof is “faith”, of anything religion claims by faith, as many people have different faith even in the same religion?