Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum 14000yr Old Map Discovery

When I read that a 14,000 year old map had been discovered and proven, it certainly made me sit up and take notice.
My first thoughts were:- ...a country map?...a world map?
We carry compact maps with us, to find our way around.
Why would ancient neolithic man even need maps?

With those thoughts in mind, no wonder it took a team from the University of Zarragoza in Spain 15 years to decipher the lines and squiggles scratched on a stone artifact that was unearthed during the excavation
of a cave in 1993.

The date of the artifact corresponded to its depth excavated in the cave floor.
The artifact was a small stone only 7 inches by 5 inches x 0.4 inch thick, so it was quite small enough to be carried around for use as as map?
It must have been a flash of insightful genius when it was realised the the small stone had a perfect map of the local area scratched upon it.
Then, once everything fell into place........the starting point of the map was found to show a picture of the actual cave entrance, from where it was found.
Other points in the map were found to be the trail or steps leading up into the cave.
More points on the map showed, a mountain, a river, a pass, a river crossing, plus pics of various animals.
ALL rivers and trails shown on this small stone map are still in existance today.

I think that is incredible.
I wonder if the archeologists can tell us whether the cave was inhabited by
Neanderthal or Neolithic man?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-years-ago.html

what I want to know is the elevation at the caves entrance , and how large the cave is.

ie .. how many people lived there 13,660 years ago.

must have been cold there then.

nice find Mike

I thought that Neanderthals had died out by 14,000 years ago, or were they still hanging on. But whoever was responsible for this had an incredible mind.

As we find out more and more about our ancestors I cannot help but think that maybe we modern humans are just one more species in evolutionary development and maybe not the unique culmination that we had always assumed! At least we are finding out we coexisted with 3 other species of human..... or maybe more.