The oldest known 3D map is believed to be a large, portable rock slab from the Bronze Age, about 3,000 years ago. This map showed a local river network and earth mounds, resembling a modern map concept used for navigation.
In a new study, researchers found what might be the oldest 3D map in a quartzitic sandstone formation in the Paris Basin. This map, discovered in the Ségognole 3 rock shelter (known since the 1980s for its Late Palaeolithic engravings of horses and a female figure), depicts the surrounding landscape.
Paleolithic people shaped sandstone to look like the female form and created cracks that allowed water to flow through it. This design helped nourish an outflow at the base of the pelvic triangle.
Recent research indicates that around 13,000 years ago, they adapted the sandstone shelter floor to mirror the region’s natural water flow and land features.
Dr Anthony Milnes from the University of Adelaide‘s School of Physics, Chemistry, and Earth Sciences participated in the research led by Dr Médard Thiry from the Mines Paris – PSL Centre of Geosciences.
Dr. Milnes said, “What we’ve described is not a map as we understand it today — with distances, directions, and travel times — but rather a three-dimensional miniature depicting the functioning of a landscape, with runoff from highlands into streams and rivers, the convergence of valleys, and the downstream formation of lakes and swamps.”
“For Palaeolithic peoples, the direction of water flows and the recognition of landscape features were likely more important than modern concepts like distance and time.”
The study reveals that ancient humans altered how water moved in and around their shelters, modeling natural water flows in the landscape. These findings highlight our distant ancestors’ impressive mental abilities, creativity, and engineering skills.
Dr Médard Thiry from the Mines Paris – PSL Centre of Geosciences, through his detailed research on Fontainebleau sandstone, identified small-scale features that could not have formed naturally, indicating early human modifications.
The study suggests that Palaeolithic humans sculpted the sandstone to promote specific flow paths for infiltrating and directing rainwater, something archaeologists had never recognized.
Thiry said, “The fittings probably have a much deeper, mythical meaning related to water. The two hydraulic installations — that of the sexual figuration and that of the miniature landscape — are two to three meters from each other and are sure to relay a profound meaning of the conception of life and nature, which will never be accessible to us.”
The study discovered the presence of three-dimensional modeling by closely examining fine-scale geomorphological features.
“This completely new discovery offers a better understanding and insight into the capacity of these early humans.”
Journal Reference:
- Médard Thiry, Anthony Milnes. Paleolithic map engraved for staging water flows in a Paris basin shelter. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. DOI: 10.1111/ojoa.12316