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MEET MAINE’S FIRST PEOPLE

Some 21,000 years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet scraped across Maine, leaving the convoluted shoreline and lots of the rocks we have today. Its aftermath also left habitable land that Paleo-Indians, or nomadic “Red Paint” people, began to inhabit nearly 13,000 years ago. Those first natives were replaced by the Armouchiquois in southern Maine, the Etchemin in mid- to northern Maine, and the Abenaki in the interior and west. These were the precursors of our modern Maliseet, MicMac, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy tribes.

PETROGLYPHS

There are several petroglyph (rock carving) sites in Maine, dating from pre-historic times to contact with Europeans. The islands and shoreline around Machias Bay are considered one of the most important