Carl Christian Rafn (January 16, 1795 – October 20, 1864) was a Danish antiquarian noted for his early advocacy of the theory that the Vikings had explored North America centuries before Christopher Columbus's and John Cabot's voyages.
Rafn was particularly interested in discovering the location of the Vinland mentioned in Norse sagas. Rafn believed Vinland to have been in modern-day New England in the United States.
Rafn published much of his work in 1837 in the Antiquitates Americanæ. It is considered the first scholarly exposition of the Pre-Columbian Norse exploration theory. At the time of Rafn's research, the Norse sagas concerning Vinland were considered by most scholars to be mere legends.
Rafn was partially vindicated in the 1960s by the discovery of the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland, Canada.
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