French scientists have identified a unique engraving in the Ségognole 3 cave, located in the famous sandstone massif south of Paris. This engraving, dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, could be the oldest three-dimensional map ever found. The research, published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, reveals how hunter-gatherers over 20,000 years ago shaped and […]
Maps
Posted inAntiquity, Geography
The Stone Tower, the place marking the midpoint of the Silk Road and whose coordinates Ptolemy mentions, has never been found
Throughout the centuries, the mythical Stone Tower has been a fascinating enigma for geographers, historians, and archaeologists worldwide. This location is mentioned in Claudius Ptolemy’s Geography as the midpoint on the Silk Road, the vast network of trade routes connecting Europe and Asia, facilitating the exchange of goods, cultures, and ideas. The Stone Tower, known […]
Posted inAncient Rome
The Cadastre of Orange, the Roman Map Showing How Conquered Land Was Divided Among Settlers
The Cadastre of Orange is an ancient plan that shows the Roman centuriations (land distributions) that extended across the territory of the colony of Arausio (modern-day Orange in France) in Gallia Narbonensis, as well as across the territories of neighboring cities and colonies. Excavations carried out between 1949 and 1952 near the ancient theater of […]
Posted inStone Age Archaeology
The Oldest Celestial Map Found in a Prehistoric Fortress in Trieste
The hiker ascending the trails of Rupinpiccolo, a distinctive village in the Karst of Trieste, may come across an imposing wall of large stones: it is a castelliere, an ancient structure for defensive purposes. Used as a fortification from 1800 to 1650 B.C. until 400 B.C. Rupinpiccolo’s is one of the most important castellieri and […]
Posted inGeography, Middle Ages
Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Greek traveler and geographer, is the sole known medieval author who believed that the Earth was flat
Syrian Greek merchant Cosmas Indicopleustes, born in the 6th century, penned a controversial work ‘Christian Topography’. He rejected the Greek concept of a spherical earth and provided firsthand descriptions from his travels, including maritime trade and Arabian flora and fauna, influencing Western depictions of the region.
Posted inGeography
The world’s largest globes
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of planet Earth represented on a sphere where, sometimes, the topography of the surface is shown (obviously exaggerated because, depending on the scale, it would be difficult to see). The circumference of the planet is approximately 40 million meters. The oldest of those that remain is the Erdapfel […]
Posted inModern Era
Carsten Niebuhr, the scientist who crossed the Middle East disguised as an Arab as the only survivor of the Royal Danish Expedition
Scientific travel became widespread among European countries from the mid-18th century following the establishment of the Enlightenment. And although the most famous were led by the great powers of the time (United Kingdom, France, Spain …), there were other nations that joined the trend. One of them was Denmark, which in 1761 organized an expedition […]
