Oldest 3D Map in Europe

The Saint-Bélec Slab was etched 4,000 years ago and is considered to be the oldest known three dimensional map in Europe. It was unearthed in 1900, moved a few times and eventually found again in the cellar of a castle in 2014.

All photos via Inrap - click for original

Scientists have studied it with 3D mapping surveys and likened it to a stretch of the Odet River valley in Finistère, a region of Brittany. Below is an interpretation of some of the markings, blue being the rivers and streams, red a road and yellow an enclosure. The black dots may be burial mounds.

Here is the same area superimposed on a modern map.

The slab's map location along with theoretical territories of Brittany, made using Theissen Polygons.

The Inrap (the French archaeology institute) article is full of great diagrams like this one comparing locations on the stone to the current map,

and this field documentation sketch.

Click on the Inrap article for details, descriptions (in French) and credits. For an English language description see this BBC article, containing the following quotes from Dr Clément Nicolas from Bournemouth University, one of the study's authors.

"It was probably a way to affirm the ownership of the territory by a small prince or king at the time." 

"We tend to underestimate the geographical knowledge of past societies. This slab is important as it highlights this cartographical knowledge."