Scientists in France working in the Ségognole 3 cave have identified a unique engraving that could be the oldest three-dimensional (3D) map in the world.
In an article published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, the scientists explained how, approximately 20,000 years ago, ancient hominins meticulously adapted the cave floor to represent the flow of water in the surrounding area, creating a 3D and engraved map which is similar to a scale model.
In addition to the incredible map, archaeologists also found in the cave an engraving of horses, as well as one of the human female body. They believe that these representations may have held a symbolic or ritual significance for their creators.
The world’s oldest 3D map: how does it work?
https://x.com/lbv/status/1875120828192633316
The scale model of the landscape of Noisy-sur-École is located on the floor, in the back of the Ségognole 3 cave. It is incredibly detailed and surprisingly accurate. The hunter-gatherers who once resided in the cave managed to make an incredible miniature representation of the region’s hydrological and geomorphological features.
Médard Thiry and Anthony Milnes, who led the research, explained that the floor’s surface was masterfully engraved to manipulate water flow through accurate channels, depressions, and basins. The specific indents of indents and inclinations in the stone represent the various hills in the area and how they correlate to the surrounding rivers, lakes, and deltas.
“The carved motifs and their relationship with natural features in the sandstone of the shelter can be compared with major geomorphological features in the surrounding landscape,” the researchers said.
These latest findings represent the culmination of a research project into the cave’s engravings which started in 2020. Thiry and Milnes first noticed that the patterns in the cave had a specific meaning when they realized that all the water that flowed through the grooves in the cave ended up in a vulva-like depression, while other depressions and fractures in the cave manipulated water to flow along other paths. They explained that rainwater entered through small surface cracks that were adapted to receive direct precipitation from the push of the wind.
The carvings and natural cracks thus represent both the surrounding landscape and the female body.
“The natural geomorphological characteristics of the Ségognole 3 shelter thus provided appropriate disposition to imprint this fragmented representation of femininity, a theme that shows clear importance during the Upper Palaeolithic,” the researchers said in a paper about the cave. “While the hydraulic mechanisms seem at first glance to be complex, ongoing water gathering experience, observation of water flows interacting with regional sandstones, and familiarity with the shelter and its environment, could well have sharpened the intuition and understanding of those who were responsible for it.”
The combination of the representation of horses, the female figure, and the map of the region, is a truly remarkable feat that demonstrates the high level of understanding and intelligence held by the paleolithic hominin population that once resided in Noisy-sur-École.