HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



tools show evidence of disintegration through decay. Whether this 

 is due to contact with oxides is a question to be determined later. 



The red paint itself has been carefully analyzed by Prof. James 

 C. Graham, of Phillips Academy, who selected samples from the most 

 distant cemeteries and compared them with powdered hematite 

 from the outcrop of Mt Katahdin. The Katahdin sample showed 74% 

 ferric oxide; the Emerson, 55.4%; Sullivan Falls, 57.43%. The 

 difference of 17^2% to 19% is not surprising, as the paint in the graves 

 is more or less mixed with earth, whereas at Katahdin it occurs in a 

 natural state. There is not the slightest indication that the paint 

 came from white traders. 



There was no uniformity in the position of the objects in the 290 

 graves; as many gouges, adz-blades, and "plummets" were directed 

 toward the east as toward the north. With the exception of a minute 

 fragment from the Emerson cemetery, no trace of bone was found 

 in any of the graves, and pottery, grooved axes, celts, ordinary orna- 

 ments, bone or shell tools, tubes, and other objects common to Indian 

 graves, were likewise absent. In two of the cemeteries were intru- 

 sive burials, not however associated with red paint. Arrowpoints 

 were not frequent, and triangular arrows were absent. 



From Passadumkeag southward to Georges river the types of 

 artifacts varied slightly. The Stevens and Tarr cemeteries on the 

 stream mentioned produced smaller objects, and the gouges appeared 

 slightly more Algonquian in form. With one exception large slate 

 spears were absent. It is my belief that if investigations were con- 

 tinued toward the west, the Red-paint culture would be found to 

 merge with the early Algonquian. Contrary to the generally ac- 

 cepted view, there are no Red-paint cemeteries to be found in the 

 great St John valley to the northeastward, as far down as Meductic, 

 nor did our research discover traces of this culture in the St Croix 

 basin in eastern Maine, although there are many favorable gravel 

 knolls throughout the eastern part of the state and in western New 

 Brunswick. That the long slate spear and certain gouge forms 

 occur in New Brunswick and Newfoundland is proved by Mr How- 

 ley, who illustrates certainly two and possibly three of our eight 

 characteristic forms; the other five, however, are entirely absent, and 

 Mr Howley does not seem to have found any of his objects in graves 

 associated with red ochre. 



Finally, comparing the appearance of these Red-paint ceme- 

 teries with those in other states where it has been my good fortune 

 to conduct field work, there is a distinct indication of considerable 

 antiquity in favor of the deposits on the lower Penobscot. The 



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