Archaeology breakthrough as incredible 13,000-year-old 3D map discovered

believe they may have found the world’s oldest 3D map dating back around 13,000 years, as revealed in a new study. 

Located in a rock shelter called Ségognole 3, south of , the engraved floor represents a miniature version of the surrounding landscape.

The ancient map was created during the Paleolithic period – also known as the Old Stone Age – which spanned from about as much as 3.3 million years ago to around 12,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have known about the rock shelter since the 1980s and it features existing artworks and engravings.  But this new discovery marks an exciting new development. 

The discovery sheds light on how these ancient people understood and depicted their environment.

The engraved floor was deliberately shaped to mirror the surrounding geographical features and natural water flows, according to the new study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 

“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,” explained Anthony Milnes from the University of .

“These are exceptional findings and clearly show the mental capacity, imagination and engineering capability of our distant ancestors.”

The 3D map is said to illustrate how the water runs from the highlands into streams and rivers, as well as the formation of lakes and swamps. 

Mapping information like this would have been vital for Stone Age people to understand the environment around them. 

The discovery came after lead researcher, Médard Thiry from the Mines Paris – PSL Center of Geosciences, spotted several small features that could not have formed naturally.

The expert said: “Our research showed that Paleolithic humans sculpted the sandstone to promote specific flow paths for infiltrating and directing rainwater, which is something that had never been recognised by archaeologists.”

Among the previously discovered findings at the Ségognole 3 site are evidence that Paleolithic humans deliberately altered the hydraulic behaviour of water both within and around the site, as well as engravings are two horses positioned on either side of what researchers describe as a “sexual figuration” representing the female form.

The researchers suggest that these water-related features likely held a deep symbolic meaning for these people and likely conveyed “a profound meaning of conception of life and nature,” according to Thiry. 

Before this discovery, the oldest known 3D map was understood to be a large portable rock slab engraved by people of the around 3,000 years ago, which depicted a local river network and earth mounds. This is said to have reflected a more modern map concept, used for navigation.