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Although modern scholars no longer believe in the
diffusion theory it was once thought that the Red Paint people traveled across the
Northern Hemisphere from Europe to North America. The diffusion theory was based on
similarities between the Red Paint people's stone tool technology, houses, and ritualistic
burial habits that included the use of red ocher. Red ocher
is common in many geographic
regions, and is commonly used in many prehistoric cultures. The stone technology and
similar geometric designs of dots and lines that appear on the stone tools of both the
North American Red Paint culture and on the tools of European prehistoric cultures could
have developed independently of each other. As scientific methods improved, over the years, it has been determined from studying the burials and skeletons of the Red Paint people that they are in fact Native Americans. |
