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00:00Who were the mysterious people that buried their dead in these mounds 2,500 years ago?
00:05No real answers have ever been found.
00:08Recent discoveries on the coasts of Maine and Labrador are providing clues.
00:12Could there be a link between the ancient megaliths of Europe,
00:15the red paint burials of the Northeast, and the mound builders of the Midwest?
00:20Can scientists unravel the secrets of the lost red paint people?
00:42The Northern Atlantic coast is a remote and barren land,
00:47locked in ice for much of the year,
00:50and surrounded by bitterly cold seas.
01:03It is almost unimaginable that ancient peoples could have survived in this desolate region.
01:11But a series of archaeological discoveries in the United States and Canada
01:15has uncovered startling new evidence
01:18that a previously unknown culture,
01:21more advanced than anyone had believed possible,
01:24flourished here near the edge of the Arctic Circle many thousands of years ago.
01:31The discovery of this early civilization
01:33is changing our vision of ancient North America
01:36and challenging long-held assumptions
01:39about the development of Native American culture.
01:48The story begins just over a century ago
01:52with an accidental discovery on the coast of Maine.
01:54It gradually unfolds into one of the great quests of American archaeology,
02:00the search for the lost red paint people.
02:15In 1882, Augustus Hamlin, the mayor of Bangor, Maine,
02:19was guided to a region near the mouth of the Penobscot River
02:22by Foster Soper, a local farmer.
02:25Soper had told the mayor about a place
02:28where blood-colored pools were rising out of the earth.
02:33Hanlon was a doctor and a geologist,
02:36but he was also an amateur anthropologist,
02:40a so-called antiquarian,
02:42who believed in theories about the past
02:44that scientists would later consider implausible.
02:49This part of the Maine coast had generated legends
02:52for hundreds of years.
02:54As far back as the 16th century,
02:56European explorers had recorded an Indian myth
02:59about a fabled place called Norambega,
03:02which they interpreted to be a city overflowing with riches.
03:11This map of 1569 placed Norambega near the mouth of the Penobscot River.
03:17Hamlin had searched, but he never found a trace of a lost city.
03:26He did find accounts of unexplained stone ruins
03:29discovered by the settlers
03:30who first cleared the dense forest along the Penobscot River.
03:34Like other antiquarians of his time,
03:37Hamlin believed that these were the ruins of structures
03:39built by Europeans who arrived in the New World before Columbus.
03:44He suggested that they might be the remains of Vinland,
03:47the lost colony of the Vikings.
03:59The stone ruins of the Northeast
04:01were not the only archaeological mysteries
04:03which interested the antiquarians.
04:06There were also hundreds of prehistoric mounds and earthworks
04:10like these located in the Ohio Valley.
04:14As early as the 1700s,
04:16amateur scientists had been digging up
04:18these mysterious man-made hills
04:20and discovering the spectacular remains of an ancient culture.
04:25These elaborate burials and artifacts
04:28indicated that the mound builders were more advanced
04:31than the known Indian tribes of the region.
04:3519th century antiquarians explained this
04:37by developing the theory of a lost civilization
04:40which existed in America before the Indian
04:43and then mysteriously vanished.
04:48The earliest mounds were simple circular forms.
04:52But later examples evolved into precise geometric designs
04:57built on a vast scale.
05:00The geometry and surveying skills needed to construct these ritual landscapes
05:05seemed to be unknown among the Native Americans.
05:12Because there were ancient mounds throughout Europe,
05:15other scholars who did not believe in the theory of lost races
05:18suggested that the American mounds were built by colonists
05:21from the more highly developed cultures of the Old World.
05:24They believed in the theory of diffusion
05:27that early voyagers brought the mound-building tradition
05:30across the Atlantic.
05:33Eventually, both of these antiquarian theories
05:36would be abandoned
05:37as the new discipline of scientific archaeology developed.
05:40By the mid-20th century,
05:43professional anthropologists would firmly deny
05:45that ancient people navigated across the ocean
05:48and they would dismiss as well
05:50the idea of lost races.
05:53But here, in the landscape forming the heart
05:56of the old Norambega myth,
05:58Hamlin, the antiquarian,
06:00was about to make a discovery
06:01which would eventually change scientific beliefs.
06:05Though its real significance
06:06was not understood for a hundred years,
06:08what he found here was the first evidence
06:11of a completely unknown ancient race
06:14of skilled seafaring people
06:16who once lived along the Atlantic coast.
06:26As a geologist,
06:28Hamlin realized he was looking
06:29at a high grade of red ochre, iron oxide.
06:36The ochre had been turned up by the plow
06:38and the red pools were formed
06:40when it mixed with the night rain.
06:43Buried in the ochre,
06:45Hamlin found artifacts made of polished stone.
06:51He knew that Native American peoples
06:53used red ochre for war paint
06:55and for their rituals.
06:57But what surprised him
06:58was the quality and the perfection
07:00of the polished artifacts.
07:02The stone woodworking tools
07:04were honed to a sharpness
07:05rivaling a metal blade
07:07and they were far superior
07:08to the artifacts found
07:10at Indian sites in Maine.
07:12Hamlin brought the tools
07:14to the Peabody Museum at Harvard
07:16and the search
07:17for the mysterious red paint people
07:18was taken up
07:19by professional archaeologist
07:21Charles C. Willoughby.
07:24When Willoughby investigated Hamlin's site,
07:27he discovered a mound
07:28at the water's edge
07:29and began a dig
07:30that has been called
07:31the first scientific excavation
07:33in America.
07:35Willoughby's careful measurements
07:36and drawings revealed
07:38that the artifacts
07:39had been buried
07:39in ritual patterns.
07:41He suspected
07:42that they were the remains
07:43of ancient graves
07:44but he found no skeletons
07:46to confirm his theory.
07:48He suggested
07:50that the graves
07:50were so old
07:51that the bones
07:52had long ago disintegrated
07:53in the acidic
07:54New England soil.
07:56He built this scale model
07:58to be displayed
07:59at the 1893
08:00World's Columbian Exhibition
08:01in Chicago.
08:04Along with Willoughby,
08:06another archaeologist
08:07was presenting his work
08:09in the Hall of Anthropology.
08:11Warren K. Moorhead
08:13became famous
08:14when he displayed
08:14his discoveries
08:15of the Ohio Mound Builder
08:17treasure at the exhibition.
08:19He was a self-taught archaeologist
08:21whose less than careful
08:22excavation methods
08:23made him a maverick
08:24in the profession's eye.
08:26But his uncanny nose
08:27for spectacular discoveries
08:29made his name
08:30a household word.
08:33Moorhead was searching
08:34for the origins
08:35of the Mound Builders
08:36and he soon became interested
08:37in Willoughby's site
08:38in Maine.
08:40With a team of excavators
08:42he called the Force,
08:43Moorhead set out
08:45on an expedition
08:45up the rivers of Maine
08:47to investigate
08:48Willoughby's claims
08:49of boneless cemeteries.
08:54These recently discovered
08:56hand-tinted glass slides
08:57were used to illustrate
08:59his popular lectures.
09:03When Moorhead got involved
09:05in Maine archaeology,
09:06he elevated the quest
09:08for the red paint people
09:09to high adventure.
09:12like Hamlin,
09:14Moorhead was impressed
09:15by the quality
09:16of the tools.
09:18The workmanship
09:19of the polished stone
09:20led him to believe
09:21that the red paint people
09:22had a highly evolved culture.
09:25He sent examples
09:26back to museums
09:27in the Midwest
09:27to be shown
09:28alongside the artifacts
09:29of the Mound Builders.
09:32By the turn
09:33of the century
09:34he had excavated
09:35several mounds
09:36and ritual sites
09:37both in the hills
09:38and along the coast
09:39of Maine.
09:41Moorhead wrote
09:42that in all his explorations
09:43he had never examined
09:44sites appearing so old
09:46but like Willoughby
09:47he never found
09:48a skeleton
09:49or a village.
09:50Without this evidence
09:52there was no way
09:52to determine
09:53who these people were,
09:54how they lived
09:55or where they came from.
09:59But he did note
10:00that some of the tools
10:01were made
10:02from a type of stone
10:03not found anywhere
10:04in Maine
10:04or New England.
10:07Moorhead daringly suggested
10:08that its source
10:09would someday be located
10:10in the far north
10:11and he claimed
10:12this was evidence
10:13of long distance trade.
10:16His prediction
10:17was borne out
10:1880 years later
10:19when archaeologists
10:20discovered the source
10:21of this unusual stone
10:22in Rama Bay,
10:24northern Labrador.
10:251,500 nautical miles
10:27from the coast of Maine.
10:31The stone is now called
10:33Rama Chert.
10:35Its beautiful translucence
10:36and sugary texture
10:37make it highly distinctive.
10:42The Chert has been found
10:43in artifact collections
10:44as far south as New Jersey
10:46and west along
10:47the St. Lawrence River
10:48into Vermont.
10:49The Rama Bay quarry
10:51was the only place
10:52in the world
10:52where this type of Chert
10:53could be found,
10:55confirming Moorhead's idea
10:56of a link
10:57between the red paints
10:58and the far north.
10:59At the time,
11:02Moorhead's academic colleagues
11:03considered his claims
11:04to be too sensational.
11:07Some simply dismissed
11:08the idea of an advanced
11:10prehistoric culture
11:11and others thought
11:12that the red paints
11:13actually might have been
11:14a group of marauding Eskimo
11:16from the north.
11:17Eventually,
11:18Moorhead's career
11:19was destroyed.
11:25Not surprisingly,
11:26the next generation
11:27of professional anthropologists
11:29avoided the question
11:30and the mystery
11:31of the red paint culture
11:32was temporarily forgotten.
11:37It was not until
11:38the 1930s
11:39that another major discovery
11:41occurred in Maine.
11:43This one
11:44was found by chance
11:45under an Indian shell heap
11:47on the edge
11:47of Blue Hill Bay.
11:49These heaps
11:50are the discarded remains
11:51of shellfish
11:52built up by generations
11:53of tribes
11:54who returned year after year
11:56to harvest the ocean creatures.
11:58They have been found
11:59in many places
11:59along the Atlantic coast.
12:01On Blue Hill Bay,
12:03red ochre began eroding
12:05from the bottom
12:05of a heap
12:06known as the Nevin site.
12:09It was brought
12:10to the attention
12:11of archaeologist
12:12Douglas Byers.
12:15The layers
12:16of crushed shell
12:17formed a calcium-rich
12:18mixture
12:19that neutralized
12:20the acidic soil.
12:21At the bottom,
12:23Byers found
12:23the badly disintegrated
12:25remains
12:25of full skeletons
12:26covered in red ochre
12:28just as Moorhead
12:30and Willoughby
12:30had predicted.
12:33Byers also found
12:34bone artifacts
12:35with surprisingly
12:36beautiful decorations
12:37engraved into the surface.
12:40of the red paint.
12:41No one had expected
12:42to find such precise
12:43geometric designs
12:44among the red paints.
12:47But the most surprising
12:48discoveries
12:49at the Nevin site
12:50were toggling harpoons
12:51and the remains
12:52of swordfish,
12:53a deep water ocean species.
12:56These artifacts
12:57were the first clue
12:58that the red paint people
12:59might be a seafaring race.
13:05At the time,
13:07most of American
13:08anthropology
13:08resisted this idea.
13:10There seemed
13:11to be no historical evidence
13:13for ocean navigation
13:14among the Indians.
13:16But then,
13:17the next major
13:18red paint discovery
13:19in Maine
13:20occurred on a remote
13:21island in Penobscot Bay.
13:23In the late 1960s,
13:25Dr. Bruce Bork
13:26of the Maine State Museum
13:27investigated a shell heap
13:29on North Haven Island.
13:30Near the bottom,
13:31he found the remains
13:32of a red paint
13:33fishing station.
13:35Well, 10 years ago,
13:37we didn't really understand
13:38much about the lifestyle
13:39of the people
13:39who left these cemeteries.
13:42Then in 1971,
13:44I began excavations
13:45at the Turner Farm site
13:46and got down
13:48near the bottom
13:49of this deep shell heap
13:50to a series of strata
13:52that related to a village
13:54of what I call
13:54the Moorhead phase,
13:55people who left
13:57these cemeteries.
13:59Dr. Bork and his crew
14:00had a tool
14:01which had been unavailable
14:02to early archaeologists.
14:04They used radiocarbon dating
14:06to determine
14:07that the red paint occupation
14:08of the island
14:09occurred over 4,000 years ago.
14:13This surprisingly early date
14:15indicated that
14:16the red paint culture
14:17predated the mound builder
14:18civilizations of the Midwest
14:20by more than 2,000 years.
14:23And we were surprised to find
14:25that most of the bone
14:29or a great deal of the bone
14:30related to maritime activity.
14:33Specifically, codfish
14:35was very abundant
14:36and very surprisingly,
14:38swordfish was tremendously abundant.
14:41Now, both these animals,
14:43swordfish and codfish,
14:44are deep water animals.
14:47The people of the Moorhead phase
14:49were very skilled
14:50at going out
14:51and traveling
14:52the several miles
14:54necessary to get
14:54to the ideal hunting
14:55and fishing places
14:56for these two species.
15:00The gouges,
15:01which are so prominent
15:01in the red paint graves,
15:03suggest to us
15:05a great skill
15:06at working wood.
15:07And when you combine
15:07the evidence we have here
15:09for dependence
15:10on deep water marine species
15:12with the apparent importance
15:15or skill in woodworking,
15:16the sense then
15:17is that these people
15:18were maritime hunters
15:20who made
15:21very competent sea craft.
15:23The boats
15:24that these people used
15:25were seaworthy,
15:26they were rugged,
15:27probably large dugout canoes,
15:28perhaps not too different
15:30from those we know
15:30from the Northwest coast
15:32during the historic period.
15:34The sea peoples
15:35of the Pacific Northwest
15:36have recently become a model
15:38to help anthropologists
15:40visualize the way of life
15:41of the red paint people.
15:43This rare footage
15:45of Northwest coast Indians
15:46was produced
15:47at the turn of the century
15:48by photographer
15:49Edward Curtis.
15:55Curtis worked
15:56with the Quagule people
15:57and the famous
15:58Indian ethnographer
15:59George Hunt
16:00to build and photograph
16:02examples of their
16:03traditional boats
16:04and houses.
16:11Here, George Hunt
16:12demonstrates the woodworking tools
16:14of the Northwest coast
16:15that are similar
16:16in shape and function
16:18to the tools found
16:19in the red paint burials
16:20of Maine.
16:21Although the red paints
16:23predated these
16:24Northwest coast people
16:25by thousands of years,
16:26the similarity
16:27of their tools
16:28suggests how advanced
16:30the red paint culture
16:31must have been.
16:33This island village
16:34located 200 miles
16:35off the coast
16:36of British Columbia
16:37was abandoned
16:38a century ago
16:39and has already begun
16:41to disintegrate.
16:42If these wooden structures
16:44had been built
16:454,000 years ago,
16:46by now they would have
16:47disappeared
16:48without a trace.
16:50Like the sea peoples
16:51of the Pacific Northwest,
16:53the red paint people
16:54of the Northeast
16:54built their villages
16:56at the water's edge.
16:58Unfortunately
16:58for archaeologists,
17:00the edge of the ocean
17:01is one of the most
17:02abrasive environments known,
17:03and there is very little
17:05left of the red paint
17:06way of life.
17:13At the same time
17:14as Dr. Bork's work
17:15in Maine,
17:16there was an accidental
17:17discovery at the edge
17:18of an island
17:18in the Canadian Maritimes.
17:21Port-de-Schoix
17:22is a fishing community
17:23in Northwestern Newfoundland.
17:25In 1968,
17:27construction began
17:28for a new movie theater
17:29on the outskirts of town.
17:31A bulldozer
17:32cut through a patch
17:33of red ochre
17:33and the work
17:34was stopped
17:35as Dr. James Tuck
17:36from Memorial University
17:37in St. John's
17:38was called in.
17:43I came up
17:44to see
17:45what had been found.
17:47It was something
17:48that we'd been looking
17:48for for a long time
17:50because it's
17:51apparently the remains
17:52of a burial cult
17:56that we're interested in.
17:58Finally,
17:59archaeologists
18:00had found skeletons
18:01which were preserved
18:02well enough
18:02to identify,
18:04enabling Dr. Tuck
18:05to give the red paint
18:06people a new
18:06scientific name,
18:08the Maritime Archaic.
18:11Eventually,
18:12it turned out
18:12to be a site
18:13that I guess
18:13people had been
18:14looking for
18:15for a hundred years.
18:16There were red paint
18:17cemeteries in Maine,
18:18but almost never
18:19had there been
18:19any bone preserved.
18:20When we first found
18:22the human bones,
18:23we asked ourselves
18:24questions like,
18:25are these people Eskimos
18:26or were they Indians?
18:28It sounds almost silly now,
18:2915 years later.
18:30But those were questions
18:32that were very real
18:32and important then.
18:34Jim Anderson,
18:35the physical anthropologist
18:36who studied the bones
18:37immediately after
18:38they'd come from the field,
18:39was able to distinguish
18:41that these people
18:42were in fact racially
18:43American Indians,
18:44North American Indians,
18:45rather than Europeans
18:47or Eskimos.
18:48I think the European question
18:50is hardly important at all
18:52and doesn't bear discussing.
18:53But there are
18:54biological traits
18:55in the skulls
18:56and infracranial skeletons
18:58of these people
18:59that allow
19:00physical anthropologists
19:01to distinguish
19:01between people
19:02we'd recognize as Eskimos
19:04and those we'd recognize
19:05as Indians.
19:08The site proved
19:09to be over 4,000 years old,
19:11about the same age
19:12as the sites in Maine.
19:14When I first saw them,
19:16I couldn't believe
19:16they were as old
19:17as they were.
19:18The preservation
19:18was almost beyond belief.
19:21They looked fresh
19:21and new
19:22and covered with red ochre.
19:24When we completed
19:26our analysis
19:27of the Portozois material,
19:28we had for the first time
19:29a real good look
19:30at the sophisticated
19:31sea mammal hunting technology
19:34or sea hunting technology
19:35that these people had.
19:36Their weapons included
19:38toggling harpoons
19:40and barbed harpoons.
19:41These were used
19:43to harpoon sea mammals.
19:45The polished slate
19:46and bone lance points
19:47were probably used
19:48to dispatch sea mammals,
19:50seals and walrus
19:50and so forth.
19:52There were specialized
19:54fish spears,
19:55things called lysters,
19:56and a very sophisticated
19:58and well-developed technology
20:01for exploiting the resources
20:02of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
20:04I think that the analogy
20:06is probably pretty good
20:07between east and west.
20:09They certainly had
20:10a boating technology
20:12of which we know
20:12a great deal
20:13on the west coast
20:14but very little here
20:14because of preservation.
20:17You get the impression,
20:18though,
20:19from looking at the collections
20:20from both areas
20:21that the British Columbia material
20:23is much more rich,
20:25say,
20:25in terms of wood technology.
20:27I'll bet, though,
20:28if you found
20:29a maritime archaic site
20:30with the same kind
20:31of preservation
20:31as you find
20:32in British Columbia,
20:34it'd really be a surprise.
20:36Knock your socks off
20:37some of the stuff they had.
20:40If the Native American cultures
20:42of the northwest coast
20:43are any guide,
20:44the spiritual beliefs
20:46of the maritime archaic
20:47were shaped
20:48by powerful forces
20:49in the natural environment.
20:52Anthropologists
20:53use the term shamanism
20:54to describe the religion
20:55of hunting cultures
20:56around the northern globe.
20:58Shamanism is not so much
21:00a formalized religion
21:01but a way of relating
21:02to the spirits of nature.
21:05To the shaman,
21:06each particular object,
21:08animal, and place
21:09has a spiritual identity
21:10and the shaman communicates
21:12with these forces
21:13through a state of trance,
21:14often experienced alone
21:16in the wilderness.
21:20This altered state
21:21of consciousness
21:22is brought on
21:23by starvation,
21:24physical exertion,
21:25or psychoactive substances.
21:26The ritual is often
21:28accompanied by drumming,
21:30chanting, and dancing.
21:32The shaman gains intuition
21:33and uses it
21:34to guide the community,
21:36curing illness
21:37and ensuring success
21:38in hunting and war.
21:40These spiritual techniques
21:42have existed
21:42for thousands of years
21:44and have been documented
21:45into modern times.
21:46This 16th century
21:48European print
21:49of a sorcerer
21:50in a trance
21:50was one of the first
21:51visual records
21:52of native life
21:53on the Atlantic coast.
21:54400 years later,
21:56anthropologist
21:57Franz Boas
21:58documented a similar event
21:59when he filmed
22:00this northwest coast shaman
22:02for his study
22:03of ritual gestures.
22:07Edward Curtis
22:08in his film work
22:09dramatized
22:10the shaman's ritual.
22:12With the help
22:12of George Hunt,
22:13he recreated
22:14a sacred place
22:15in the wilderness.
22:17The Indian selects
22:18the skulls
22:19of certain ancestors
22:20who will share
22:21in the experience.
22:23The dancing may last
22:24a few hours
22:25or a few days,
22:26but it is followed
22:28by a trance-like sleep
22:29in which the shaman
22:30speaks with the spirits
22:31of the natural world.
22:34At some point
22:35in history,
22:35that natural world
22:37and its spiritual realm
22:38expanded
22:39when people began
22:40to communicate
22:41with the animal spirits
22:42of the sea.
22:44A good example
22:45of that might be
22:46the killer whale effigy
22:48that was found
22:48on the chest
22:49of a young adult male.
22:51It's probably speculation,
22:53but we know
22:54that other sea mammal
22:55hunters have had
22:56killer whale cults.
22:58Why not the people
22:59at Portozois?
23:02Communication with
23:03the spirits of the sea
23:04was a major step
23:05for these ancient cultures
23:07which had been dominated
23:08by land spirits
23:09for countless millennia.
23:11The recognition
23:12of these new
23:13and powerful
23:14spiritual forces
23:15released people
23:16from their bondage
23:16to the land
23:17and opened up
23:18a wider world
23:19of maritime travel
23:21and trade.
23:22For these traditional
23:24cultures,
23:24we can imagine
23:25that navigation
23:26was a ritual
23:27where the shaman pilot
23:29consulted the winds,
23:31the waves,
23:31the animals,
23:32and the stars.
23:37Along with the whales,
23:39several artifacts
23:39from the burials
23:40at Portozois
23:41indicate that water birds
23:42were also important
23:43to the maritime archaic.
23:45The birds' habits
23:47and migration patterns
23:48would have been
23:48especially important
23:49for piloting
23:50and navigation.
23:52The image
23:53of the water bird
23:53here carved on a comb
23:55was a common motif.
23:58Dr. Tuck also found
23:59burials covered
24:00with the beaks
24:00of a species
24:01known as the great auk.
24:04These flightless,
24:06penguin-like birds
24:07once traveled
24:07in huge flocks
24:08which swam across the ocean
24:10from their home
24:10in Iceland
24:11to the shores
24:12of North America.
24:14They spread out
24:15in a mass
24:16which extended
24:16for miles
24:17across the surface
24:18of the ocean
24:18as they moved
24:19slowly along
24:20their migration route
24:21from Labrador
24:22to the Carolinas.
24:24The species
24:25was so easy
24:26for sailors to hunt
24:27that it became extinct
24:28in 1844.
24:31Perhaps by following
24:33the slow-moving auks,
24:34the maritime archaic
24:35first explored
24:36the remote shores
24:37of northern Labrador.
24:55Dr. William Fitzhugh
24:56of the Smithsonian Institution
24:58has himself been exploring
24:59the coast of Labrador
25:01searching for the northern limits
25:02of the maritime archaic.
25:05If remains of the red paint people
25:07could be found here,
25:08it would confirm
25:09that the maritime archaic
25:11were skilled
25:11long-distance navigators.
25:14In 1980,
25:15on the desolate beaches
25:16of Nuliak Cove,
25:18Dr. Fitzhugh
25:19found what had eluded
25:20every other researcher
25:21for a hundred years,
25:23the remains
25:24of red paint house foundations.
25:28Nuliak is the largest
25:29settlement location
25:31that we have found
25:32and I expect
25:33it's very near
25:34the northern limit
25:35of this culture.
25:38The reason that they were
25:40able to live
25:41so far north
25:42in an area
25:43that's pretty harsh
25:44with very rigorous winters
25:45and ice cover
25:46on the sea
25:47for eight months
25:48of the year at least
25:49is because of
25:50a very intensive
25:51maritime adaptation.
25:53It's a type of adaptation
25:55which probably extended
25:56with variations
25:57into New England,
25:58but yet there was
25:59a homogeneity
26:00to the style of life,
26:02a kind of a similarity
26:04certainly in the ceremonial cultures,
26:06to some extent
26:07in artifact forms,
26:08which bound this entire area
26:10of the northeast
26:11all the way from
26:12north of the forest fringe
26:13down into the temperate zones.
26:16And it's been a puzzle
26:18for archaeologists
26:20because they could not
26:21understand the complexity
26:23of the burial ceremonialism,
26:25the rather elaborate
26:26artifact types
26:28in terms of a northern,
26:30typical northern Indian
26:31way of life,
26:32something characterized
26:34by Algonquin culture,
26:36by Montagnan,
26:36Skapi Indians,
26:38and the Indians we know
26:38ethnographically
26:39from this area,
26:40who traveled in small bands,
26:43who hunted caribou,
26:45but never got into
26:46this intense kind of life
26:48which we see
26:49indicated by
26:50the maritime archaic.
27:04Caribou come down to Nuliak
27:06off the hills up here,
27:07and they tend to
27:08follow each other frequently
27:09so that there's a trail
27:11which develops.
27:12You can see beaten
27:13into the ground here,
27:14and these things will last
27:16for a long, long time.
27:17You'll get projectile points
27:20primarily and broken frequently.
27:23In this case here,
27:24we've found one
27:25that's right in the caribou trail
27:26just as it's dropped
27:27for 4,000 years.
27:28It's been right there.
27:30And I don't know
27:31how many caribou
27:32have ever stepped on that,
27:33but certainly more than one.
27:35The Smithsonian crew
27:37began by excavating
27:38a small stone mound
27:40which was the first clue
27:41that the red paint people
27:42had occupied the site.
27:44The whole floor
27:45is just covered in red oak.
27:46Generally, it's found
27:47right at the bottom
27:48of the deposit,
27:49but probably extends up
27:50out of the pit
27:51over here a ways.
27:54The archaeological team
27:56set up their camp
27:57below the beach terrace
27:58where the maritime archaic
28:00had once lived.
28:02The ancient settlement
28:03was preserved
28:04because geological forces
28:06raised the beach
28:07away from the ocean's
28:08erosive edge
28:08thousands of years ago.
28:13When the melting glacier
28:14receded from the ocean
28:15at the end of the last ice age,
28:17perhaps 10,000 years ago,
28:19a river channel was formed.
28:21Relieved from the great weight
28:22of the ice,
28:23the land mass rose out of the sea
28:25and a beach developed
28:26at the mouth of the channel.
28:28At some point
28:29after the maritime archaic
28:31first settled on the beach,
28:32continued geological uplift
28:34raised the terrace
28:35above sea level
28:35and the channel was blocked,
28:37forming a pond.
28:42Scientists now had
28:43their first chance
28:44to see how the maritime
28:45archaic lived.
28:46Before the discovery
28:47at Nuliac,
28:48practically everything
28:49known about the red paint
28:50culture had been learned
28:51from their burials
28:52of the dead.
28:55The first place
28:56where people could live
28:57was up on this side
28:59of the pond
28:59where the raised beaches
29:00come down from the hillside
29:03to the level of the pond.
29:05When we first visited the site,
29:07I was attracted
29:08by a number of boulder lines,
29:11features in the earth,
29:12which can be seen here.
29:15They're roughly
29:16two parallel raised ridges
29:18of beach stones
29:20about two meters apart
29:21stretching away from us
29:24and they seem to be unnatural,
29:26not the normal kind
29:27of geological features
29:28which would form
29:29as a beach ridge.
29:30And when we started
29:32looking at these things,
29:33we began finding evidence
29:35of human activity
29:36throughout the interior
29:38of these two boulder lines
29:39and such things
29:42as flakes of rama chert,
29:48pieces of slate
29:50with a bulb of percussion
29:51where they've been snapped
29:52off the original block,
29:55fragments of artifacts
29:56like the stem
29:57from a maritime archaic stem point.
30:01And one of the problems
30:02we have is the shape
30:04and size of this particular feature.
30:07Now, the probability
30:09is that these raised ridges
30:11isolate living areas
30:13within this house.
30:14We can see
30:15as we come down
30:16the inside of the structure,
30:18ridges here,
30:21here,
30:23and two more
30:24till we get to the end.
30:28The Smithsonian crew
30:30found the remains
30:31of 26 multi-roomed structures,
30:33some measuring 90 meters in length.
30:37The radiocarbon dates
30:38indicate that
30:39over 4,000 years ago,
30:41large groups of people
30:42were living
30:43in well-organized communities
30:44here at the edge
30:45of the Arctic.
30:49Along the front
30:50of the ancient beach terrace,
30:52the Smithsonian crew
30:53also began
30:54to excavate a foundation
30:55that was near
30:56a mysterious upright stone.
31:03This is a typical deposit
31:05containing fire-cracked rock,
31:09chips of ramachirt,
31:11fragments of tool-making activity,
31:14pieces of broken tools
31:15that have been burned
31:16in the fire,
31:18charcoal flecks,
31:20red ochre.
31:21This whole arrangement
31:23of artifacts
31:23is a little interesting
31:24because of this
31:25big stone here,
31:27which may have been
31:28a structural feature
31:30of the house
31:30or a seat
31:31or have served
31:33some other purpose,
31:34but it is interesting
31:34that the material
31:36is distributed
31:37in a cluster
31:38around this
31:41large rock.
31:45Like the small
31:46standing stone
31:47Dr. Fitzhugh found
31:48on the beach
31:48at Nuliak,
31:49there are other
31:50stone monuments
31:51in Labrador
31:52that also remain
31:53an archaeological mystery.
31:56found primarily
31:57along the coast,
31:58these stone pinnacles
31:59may have had
32:00both a spiritual
32:01and a practical purpose.
32:07Some are single slabs
32:09propped into vertical position
32:10and others are cairns
32:12built up with smaller boulders.
32:17The Eskimo refer
32:19to these monuments
32:19as Inuksuks.
32:21Their traditions
32:22say that the stone markers
32:23point the way
32:24to settlements.
32:26Boat pilots
32:27can navigate
32:27along the coast
32:28by using a simple
32:29technique of alignments
32:30and angles
32:31to identify
32:32their positions offshore.
32:35These basic principles
32:37of geometry
32:37may have been developed
32:39thousands of years ago
32:40by the first cultures
32:41adapting to the sea.
32:43The technique
32:44is still useful today,
32:46especially in the far north
32:48where modern
32:48navigational instruments
32:49are not always trustworthy.
32:57Here we have
32:58a grinding slab
33:00of some sort
33:00probably for polishing
33:02ground slate axes
33:04and gouges.
33:06Implements
33:07such as
33:08stemmed projectile points
33:09and knives.
33:11They had a whole variety
33:13of stem points
33:14from large
33:15to small
33:15perhaps some
33:16for hunting birds
33:17others for sea mammals
33:18and
33:20in addition
33:21a very distinctive
33:22artifact
33:24soapstone plummets
33:25which are found
33:26in large numbers
33:27in southern Labrador
33:29maritime archaic sites
33:30and seem to be restricted
33:31to the 4,000 year
33:33old time period.
33:35Plummets have often
33:36been found
33:37in red paint burials
33:38and they were probably
33:39used as fishing weights
33:40but the smallest examples
33:42are often
33:42beautifully crafted
33:43sometimes decorated
33:45and may have been used
33:46for other purposes.
33:48This engraved pendant
33:50from Nuliac
33:51is a rare discovery.
33:53A complex
33:54geometric design
33:55along with other markings
33:56indicate a high level
33:57of intellectual development
33:59among the maritime archaic
34:00over 4,000 years ago.
34:07The surprising discovery
34:09of this advanced
34:10sea culture
34:11living in North America
34:12has encouraged
34:14fresh comparisons
34:15with the ancient
34:15sea peoples
34:16of northern Europe.
34:21The shores of Scandinavia
34:23have supported
34:24maritime cultures
34:25for thousands of years.
34:26This fact has been
34:27recognized by European
34:29archaeologists
34:29for decades.
34:31In Norway,
34:32Professor Paul Simonsen
34:33of the Tromso Museum
34:34has studied
34:35the remains of cultures
34:36that once lived
34:37above the Arctic Circle.
34:39At the very beginning
34:40of human habitation
34:42after the ice age
34:43up here,
34:44people came
34:46along the coast
34:47simply because
34:48the whole of the inland
34:49still were
34:50covered by the ice sheets.
34:53It's impossible
34:55to imagine people
34:56walking up
34:58along the Norwegian coast
34:59because of the fjords
35:01and because of the ice.
35:03So it's absolutely necessary
35:05that they had a boat
35:07and were in some way
35:10adapted to the sea.
35:13Like the house foundations
35:15at Nuliak,
35:16the remains of these
35:17Stone Age dwellings
35:18at Varangar Fjord
35:19were also raised
35:20above the present shoreline
35:22by geological forces.
35:25The site was discovered
35:26in the 1930s
35:28and Professor Simonsen
35:29began his excavation
35:30of the structures
35:31in the early 1950s.
35:34On some dwelling places
35:36you have fish bones
35:37of deep sea fishes
35:39and on the same places
35:40you have very large
35:42and heavy sinking stones
35:44meaning that they could
35:46fish up to perhaps
35:47100, 120 meters deep.
35:50In North America
35:52use of the plummet
35:53vanished with the mound builders
35:55but in Europe
35:56it evolved as a mariner's tool.
35:58This 16th century print
36:00shows how the weight
36:01attached to a line
36:02was used to determine
36:03the water's depth.
36:05Eventually,
36:06the plummet became
36:07a basic element
36:08of navigational
36:08and astronomical instruments.
36:11Along with the sea hunting equipment,
36:14Professor Simonsen's crew
36:15also recovered
36:16beautiful tools
36:17made out of polished slate.
36:19During the excavations
36:20of the 30s,
36:21Norwegian anthropologist
36:23Gutorm Yesing
36:24was the first to recognize
36:25that the tools
36:26were very similar
36:27to examples
36:27from North America.
36:29He wrote,
36:30nowhere on the globe
36:32are there to be found
36:32remains as closely related
36:34as those of Norway
36:35and the coast of Maine.
36:39During World War II,
36:41Yesing retreated
36:42to his office
36:42to work on a theory
36:43suggesting that
36:44these cultural developments
36:46spread in the far north
36:47by diffusion.
36:51The similar tools
36:52led Yesing to believe
36:53that there had once been
36:54a single circumpolar culture
36:56that originated
36:57in central Russia
36:58and diffused
37:00across the land masses
37:01to the coasts of Europe
37:02and the eastern shores
37:03of North America.
37:04Because you must remember
37:07that he was
37:09devoted diffusionists,
37:13a man who thought
37:14that one thing
37:16can only be invented
37:18one time
37:19and from this place
37:21spread out over.
37:27If people living
37:29one in New England
37:31and the other in Norway
37:32made two things
37:33quite alike,
37:34we are inclined to say
37:37they had invented them
37:39independent.
37:41But if people are living
37:43very near each other
37:44and then are making
37:45things quite alike,
37:47we say that one must have
37:48learned it from the other.
37:50But we don't know for sure.
37:54More important than tools,
37:57Yesing identified
37:58what he believed
37:58to be deeper connections
37:59between the spiritual beliefs
38:01in both hemispheres.
38:03For example,
38:05this engraved bone
38:06from Norway
38:06has a geometric design
38:08created by mapping out
38:09an alignment of dots
38:10and then connecting them
38:12to form a straight line.
38:14This same technique
38:15of aligned dots
38:16was also used
38:17to engrave the decorations
38:18on the bone daggers
38:20found at the Neven site
38:21on the coast of Maine.
38:25These traits
38:26which are very,
38:28very alike
38:28are not only
38:30traits for practical purpose.
38:33They are ornamentation,
38:35they are patterns,
38:36they are spiritual things.
38:42Along with the artwork,
38:44Yesing carefully studied
38:45the spiritual traditions
38:47of northern cultures.
38:49This archival footage
38:50of a lapish shaman
38:51was filmed
38:52in the Norwegian Arctic.
38:54It shows a ritual
38:55involving a standing stone
38:57which may be
38:58thousands of years old.
39:09Yesing understood
39:10that similar tool shapes
39:11might be coincidence.
39:13But he believed
39:14the deep-rooted
39:15shamanistic traditions
39:16so similar around the globe
39:18could only have been
39:19the result of diffusion.
39:25At first,
39:27Yesing's theory
39:28of land diffusion
39:29was widely hailed
39:30by his colleagues.
39:31It seemed to finally explain
39:33the extraordinary similarities
39:35which existed
39:36among the circumpolar cultures.
39:38But appealing as the theory was,
39:41there was no proof
39:42to back it up.
39:44During the 1950s,
39:46archaeologists working
39:47in central Russia
39:48and western Canada
39:49could not find any evidence
39:50that a circumpolar culture
39:52had diffused
39:52across the central land masses.
39:56Eventually,
39:56his theory was put
39:57on the top shelf
39:58to collect dust.
39:59But Yesing never gave up
40:01his idea of land diffusion.
40:03According to Professor Simonson,
40:05Yesing never considered
40:06the possibility
40:07that ancient peoples
40:08could have been
40:08skilled mariners.
40:10I have never seen
40:12the word maritime adaptation
40:14in his papers.
40:16I don't think
40:17that just this perspective
40:19was a part
40:21of his Arctic concepts.
40:24To me,
40:26there still is
40:28a lot of sense
40:29in his theories.
40:31I will not speak
40:33about the circumpolar stone age.
40:35I will not speak
40:35about the circumpolar
40:36culture at all.
40:38But circumpolar
40:40connections
40:41and communications
40:44from people to people
40:46surely exist.
40:48And some cultural traits
40:50will be transmitted
40:52over very, very long
40:54east-west distances
40:56in the Arctic.
41:00Like the trade patterns
41:02along the coast
41:02of North America,
41:04there were extensive
41:05networks which linked
41:06the people of Norway
41:07with other sea-adapted
41:08cultures to the south.
41:11Artifacts have been
41:11found in Norway
41:12that were manufactured
41:13here on the coast
41:15of Denmark.
41:17In 1975,
41:18at a site called
41:19Vedbeek,
41:21archaeologists
41:21from the Danish
41:22National Museum
41:23discovered the remains
41:24of a sea-adapted culture
41:25that was once
41:26part of this
41:27trade network.
41:29Thousands of years ago,
41:31there was a channel
41:32where these yellow
41:33flowers now bloom.
41:34On the hills
41:35that surrounded the water,
41:36they discovered
41:3719 burials.
41:42Radiocarbon dates
41:43indicated that the graves
41:44were over 7,000 years old,
41:473,000 years older
41:49than the maritime
41:49archaic sites
41:50found in North America.
41:55Some of the burials
41:56may have been
41:57ritual sacrifices.
41:59This woman wore
42:00a large necklace
42:00of teeth to her grave.
42:02A small child,
42:04perhaps her own,
42:05was placed at her side.
42:09When the woman
42:10and child
42:10were first discovered,
42:11they were covered
42:12with red ochre.
42:14A round,
42:15polished stone
42:16lay near the woman's
42:17fractured skull,
42:18and a knife blade
42:19rested at the midsection
42:20of the infant.
42:22In all these
42:24burials,
42:25we find the red ochre.
42:27That, of course,
42:28has been
42:29open to a lot of speculation
42:31what the meaning
42:32of the red ochre,
42:34how that
42:34should be understood.
42:37The use of red ochre
42:39goes back
42:39at least 75,000 years
42:41into early
42:42Neanderthal times,
42:43but the existence
42:44of red ochre cemeteries
42:46is especially prominent
42:47among seagoing peoples.
42:49Like the maritime
42:50archaic burials
42:51in North America,
42:52the red ochre cemeteries
42:53of Europe
42:53are found
42:54along the shore.
42:56In 1927,
42:57here on the island
42:58of Teviac,
42:59just off the coast
43:00of Brittany,
43:01French archaeologists
43:02Martin Saint-Just-Pecquart
43:04discovered red paint burials
43:06near the bottom
43:06of a shell heap.
43:08Like Vedbeg,
43:09the Teviac cemetery
43:11proved to be
43:11over 7,000 years old,
43:13and the burial rituals
43:14were similar.
43:16But what was unusual
43:17about Teviac
43:18was that several
43:19of the burials
43:20had been placed
43:20in small stone structures
43:22beneath the shell mounds.
43:24The Pequarts believed
43:25that these might have been
43:26early examples
43:27of the mysterious
43:28stone megaliths
43:30left throughout
43:30northern Europe
43:31and the British Isles
43:32by an unknown
43:33ancient people.
43:35The megalith builders
43:36of Europe,
43:37like the mound builders
43:38of America,
43:39were often considered
43:40a lost race
43:41by 19th century antiquarians.
43:43The Pequarts suggested
43:45that the red paint people
43:46of Teviac
43:47were the ancestors
43:48of the megalith builders.
43:49At the time,
43:50their idea was considered
43:51too radical.
43:52Most anthropologists
43:54believed that the chambered
43:55mounds and alignments
43:56of standing stones
43:57had been built
43:57by Neolithic farming peoples
43:59of a much more
44:00recent time period.
44:02But further north,
44:03along the rocky coasts
44:05of western Sweden,
44:06conditions made it
44:07necessary for the
44:08ancient inhabitants
44:09to live primarily
44:10by fishing,
44:11not farming.
44:14Cambridge University
44:15archaeologist Graham Clark
44:17has studied
44:18these ancient maritime
44:18peoples.
44:19His research
44:20research also suggests
44:21that the early megalith builders
44:23were a seagoing culture.
44:26And it's interesting
44:27that among quite a number
44:29of maritime
44:31sedentary dwellers,
44:33we find the appearance
44:36of quite elaborate tombs,
44:39something which,
44:41until recently,
44:42we'd always thought of
44:43as being a special feature
44:45of Neolithic man,
44:47Neolithic and later
44:49societies.
44:51For example,
44:52we have stone cairns
44:54in the maritime
44:56archaic context
44:57of Labrador,
44:59dating from
45:01several thousand years
45:03before Christ.
45:06One of the first things
45:08that attracted me
45:09to this site
45:10was the boulder
45:11constructions
45:12in a roughly
45:14circular arrangement.
45:16This was suspected
45:18as a burial,
45:19and we've now opened up
45:20the center
45:21of the burial feature,
45:23revealing a pit
45:25about two meters
45:26in diameter,
45:27filled with dark
45:29humus-stained earth,
45:30flakes of ramachirt,
45:32bits of mica,
45:33and other signs
45:33of cultural activity.
45:35This ochre stain,
45:37a little bit of ochre stain
45:38down here,
45:38you're beginning
45:39to get down
45:40onto the bottom.
45:42So I suspect
45:42maybe when we get
45:43down below this layer
45:44of slabs,
45:45we might come down
45:46on top of the feature.
45:49Have there been
45:49any flakes or charcoals?
45:52Flakes or anything like that?
45:53There's flakes
45:54mixed in the burial fill,
45:55but no charcoal yet.
45:58So how much deeper?
46:01Good luck, boy.
46:02I don't know.
46:03And over here,
46:05on the east side
46:06of the mound,
46:07there is a crypt
46:10of some sort,
46:11a chamber built
46:13out of stones
46:14in a rather unusual way
46:16for maritime archaic culture.
46:18We've never seen
46:19anything like this before.
46:20It is very unusual
46:22in this lintel stone
46:23on top of these
46:24carefully chosen flat rocks.
46:27and of course,
46:28it's an interesting fact
46:31that if you plot
46:33the distribution
46:34of megalithic tombs
46:35on a map,
46:36you will find
46:37a large proportion
46:38of them
46:39on or very close
46:40to the coast.
46:41this in the past
46:43was interpreted
46:44in terms of diffusion.
46:47It is equally possible
46:49that such megalithic structures
46:51were built by people
46:53whose economy
46:55was based fundamentally
46:57on fishing,
46:59not on farming.
47:02Just as antiquarians
47:04once believed
47:04that the stone ruins
47:05in America
47:06came from the Old World,
47:08anthropologists
47:09also once believed
47:10that the megalithic tradition
47:11in Europe
47:12spread by diffusion
47:13from the Middle East.
47:15For antiquarians
47:16and scientists alike,
47:18the stone ruins
47:19along the Atlantic coast
47:20have remained
47:20a provocative problem
47:22in human prehistory.
47:23But Professor Clark's work
47:25suggests
47:25that a new understanding
47:27of these early maritime cultures
47:28may offer answers
47:30in the future.
47:31Over 7,000 years ago,
47:34these early seagoing people
47:35may have been
47:36the first highly evolved civilization
47:38to inhabit
47:39the European coast.
47:42Across the Atlantic,
47:43where the awareness
47:44of an ancient maritime culture
47:46along the northeast coast
47:47is a brand new idea,
47:49the phenomenon
47:50of the red paint people
47:51may also help
47:52to explain
47:53the antiquarian mysteries
47:54of the New World.
47:56As researchers discover more
47:58about the maritime archaic,
48:00they are beginning
48:01to realize
48:01that these early sea peoples
48:03may have left a legacy
48:04with far-ranging effects
48:05on the development
48:06of Indian cultures
48:07in the northeast.
48:10Scientists are unsure
48:11of where the maritime archaic
48:13tradition began,
48:14but the earliest evidence
48:16has been found here
48:17on the coast of Labrador.
48:19When the French fishermen
48:21settled here
48:21in the 17th century,
48:23they named this bay
48:24L'Anse-Morte,
48:25the Bay of Death.
48:26The name gradually changed
48:28to L'Anse-Mur,
48:29the Bay of Love.
48:32Ironically,
48:33the primary attraction
48:34of L'Anse-Mur today
48:35is this burial mound.
48:39Excavated by Dr. James Tuck
48:40and Professor Robert McGee,
48:42the site proved
48:42to be one of the most important
48:44maritime archaic discoveries
48:45in North America.
48:47When we first came,
48:48we saw only a corner of it
48:50that had been exposed
48:50by this road construction
48:52and subsequent erosion.
48:55We excavated the mound
48:56in quadrants,
48:58and near the center,
48:59there was a rectangular stone cyst
49:02made of upright stones.
49:03We were a little disappointed
49:05because there was no skeleton
49:06nor any artifacts in there,
49:09a little bit of red ochre.
49:11But when we dug below the cyst
49:13just to make sure
49:14there was nothing there,
49:15we were really surprised
49:16to find the skeleton
49:17of a child about 12 or 13 years old
49:20buried face down,
49:21head to the west.
49:22We don't know if it was a male
49:23or female because it was too young
49:25to be able to tell.
49:26It's an unusual burial,
49:29especially for so much time
49:30and effort
49:31and expense
49:32to have been lavished
49:33on a young child.
49:36It might be that these are
49:38not quite so much
49:39or not entirely
49:41for the disposal of the dead,
49:42but represent as well
49:44renewal rights
49:45for the community,
49:46holding the community together.
49:49A large flat rock
49:51lay across the burial
49:53and ritual fires
49:54had been set due north and south.
49:56The charcoal samples
49:57were radiocarbon dated
49:59to about 7,500.
50:02making this the earliest known
50:04maritime archaic burial site
50:06in North America.
50:08The almost identical dates
50:10in both Europe and America
50:12were a surprise to scientists.
50:14Previous theories
50:15about cultural development
50:16from the antiquarians
50:18to Yesing
50:18were based on the assumption
50:20that diffusion
50:21had to originate
50:23among the more advanced races
50:24of Europe.
50:25But this new evidence
50:27suggests that cultural development
50:29may have been parallel
50:30on both sides of the Atlantic
50:32over 7,000 years ago.
50:34The evidence also compels diffusionists
50:37to ask whether these
50:38ancient ceremonial traditions
50:40were once carried
50:41from North America
50:43to the shores of Europe
50:44along the prevailing northern route
50:47of the Gulf Stream.
50:49The Lansomor burial
50:50is also an important clue
50:52to the mystery
50:52of the mound builders
50:53in North America.
50:55It predates the mounds
50:56of the Midwest
50:57by more than 5,000 years.
50:59I suppose you could consider this
51:01the start of a mound tradition
51:03in the New World.
51:05This burial
51:05and the ones at Brador
51:07and elsewhere
51:07are more than 7,000 years old.
51:10I think therefore
51:11that they're the oldest
51:13burial mounds
51:14certainly in this part
51:15of the world
51:15maybe in most of North America.
51:18The artifacts themselves
51:20included
51:21a toggling harpoon
51:23of a design
51:24we've never seen before or since
51:26and since it's 7,500 years old
51:28it's if not the oldest
51:29one of the oldest
51:31toggling harpoons
51:31that's ever been found.
51:34So these guys
51:35were pretty sophisticated
51:36sea mammal hunters.
51:38From the time
51:39of Lansomor
51:40the red paint people
51:41flourished for about
51:424,000 more years.
51:44Then without explanation
51:46the traces of their culture
51:47vanish from the
51:48archaeological record.
51:50Most of the artifacts
51:51we have seen
51:52were never intended
51:53for our eyes
51:54but of all their remains
51:55the most intriguing
51:57are those
51:57which they wanted us to see.
51:59The ritual monuments
52:00they left
52:01in the landscapes
52:02of the Northeast.
52:04Dr. Fitzhugh
52:05believes that
52:05these ancient people
52:06the first to live
52:07on these subarctic coasts
52:09have left us a glimpse
52:11of an early ritual tradition
52:12as it appeared
52:14in the new world.
52:16One of the interesting features
52:17of the Maritime Archaic
52:18in Labrador at least
52:20is the association
52:21between ceremonial sites,
52:23burial sites
52:24and imminent,
52:25prominent locations.
52:27And it seemed as though
52:28people were selecting
52:30these locations
52:31for qualities of the land.
52:34High hills,
52:36sweeping vistas,
52:37magnificent scenery
52:38as well as conditions
52:40that were suitable
52:40for excavating burials,
52:42sandy terraces
52:43and things like that.
52:44The early Maritime Archaic Mounds
52:46seem to be
52:47individual structures
52:48with single burials
52:50in them
52:50on these prominent locations.
52:53They're always
52:54at the fronts
52:54of the terraces,
52:55very near the sea,
52:56very near the most
52:57sweeping panorama
52:59that you can get.
53:01The Ballybrack situation
53:02is probably the most
53:03dramatic I've seen
53:04but we have located
53:06maybe 10 or 12
53:08Maritime Archaic Burial Areas
53:10and all of them
53:11have these characteristics.
53:13They're not putting
53:14the ceremonial sites
53:15back in under the hills
53:16hiding them away.
53:18It's as though
53:18the individual is buried,
53:20you know,
53:20wanted to be placed
53:21in such a position
53:22so that he could see
53:23out across the sea.
53:25And I think the people
53:26were interested
53:27in this kind of concept
53:29of beauty
53:30and landscape
53:31mixed with mountains
53:33and waterfalls
53:35and everything else.
53:36There's a lot of that
53:37in Labrador
53:37but the sites
53:39that they choose
53:39to live in
53:40are really rather special
53:42that way.
53:42You don't find that
53:43with other cultures,
53:44either with the Eskimo cultures
53:45or the other Indian cultures.
53:50The discovery
53:51of the Maritime Archaic
53:53represents one
53:54of the rare instances
53:55when antiquarian mystery
53:57and scientific exploration
53:58have merged.
54:00Together,
54:01they have revealed
54:02an unknown chapter
54:03in the ancient history
54:04of North America.
54:20Watch our next NOVA program,
54:21Poison in the Rockies,
54:22on Tuesday,
54:23if you like,
54:23at 8 o'clock.
54:24Some scenes are coming up.
54:26After which,
54:26at 1 today,
54:27we have this Sunday afternoon's
54:28feature film,
54:29The Scene,
54:30A Raging Storm,
54:31A Florida Hotel,
54:32The Guests Held Captive
54:33by a Malevolent Gangster.
54:35Key Elements in
54:36Key Largo,
54:37starring Humphrey Bogart,
54:38Edward G. Robinson,
54:39Lauren Bacall,
54:40Lionel Barrymore,
54:41and Claire Trevor.
54:42Key Largo,
54:43presented uncut
54:44with no commercial interruptions.
54:45Next at 1.
54:47Haw violations aye?
55:14The disc
55:16You
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