[1] 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.
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 7000 BCE to 1000 CE.
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 graves with red paint were known as early as the 1840s, but the first scientific examination was undertaken in 1892 by Charles Willoughby of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.