Is This 4,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Slab the Oldest Known Map in Europe?

[Judi Lynn]

New research suggests the stone, first discovered in 1900, may have represented the territory of an ancient king



The markings on the slab may represent river systems, settlements, fields and barrows. (Bournemouth University)

By Livia Gershon
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
APRIL 7, 2021 12:32PM

A new analysis of a Bronze Age stone slab found in France more than a century ago suggests that the roughly 4,000-year-old artifact is Europe’s oldest known map.

BBC News reports that the elaborately carved Saint-Bélec Slab, discovered at an ancient burial ground in 1900, is a three-dimensional representation of the River Odet valley in Finistère, on Brittany’s northwestern tip. Several lines appear to show a local river network.

The study, published in the Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society, shows that the map represents an area around an 18-mile stretch of the river with 80 percent accuracy.

“This is probably the oldest map of a territory that has been identified,” co-author Clément Nicolas, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, tells BBC News. “There are several such maps carved in stone all over the world. Generally, they are just interpretations. But this is the first time a map has depicted an area on a specific scale.”

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bronze-age-slab-oldest-known-map-europe-180977439/