Readers of RockArtBlog may remember that I have been a skeptic of many claims of ancient maps in various rock art media. This one, however, might actually be real. An apparent carved stone map has been discovered at Fontainbleu, outside of Paris. “Researchers have unearthed what may be the world’s oldest three-dimensional map, located in the Paris Basin. Found within a quartzitic sandstone megaclast at the Ségognole 3 rock shelter.” (Science News Today 2025)
Geophysicists Medard
Thiry of Mines Paris – PSL Centre of Geosciences, and Anthony Milnes from the Adelaide School of
Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences noticed signs of carving on the cave
floor and, after investigating further recognized two features apparently
produced by humans. Thiry and Milnes surveyed water courses in the cave and
found a pattern of human manipulation and modification. (Cassella 2025)
“Around 20,000 years ago, the prehistoric people who sheltered in this cave carved and smoothed the stone floors to create what looks like a miniature model of the surrounding valley, according to geoscientists Medard Thiry and Anthony Milnes. As water from the outside world trickled through carefully laid-out channels, basins and depressions in the cave, the surface would have come alive with rivers, deltas, ponds, and hills.” (Cassella 2025)
Along with this landscape another set of grooves seem to illustrate a portion of the torso of a female figure with pelvis, groin, thighs and hips.
"Thanks to his extensive research on the origins of Fontainebleau sandstone, Dr. Thiry recognized several fine-scale morphological features that could not have formed naturally, suggesting that they were modified by early humans. '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 recognized by archaeologists,' Thiry says. '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 the three meters from each other and are sure to relay a profound meaning of conception of life and nature, which will never be accessible to us.'" (Pacillo 2025)
Rainfall seeping into the cavern through fractures runs across the cave floor where is pools in low points. The largest and most elevated of these pools shows indications of having been enlarged and deepened by humans, and it functions as the source of water for the features. Water from this basin runs further into the cave, splitting into two streams with one running through the carved pelvis where it runs out of the ‘vulva,’ and the other running into the carved map. The hills or mounds in the carved landscape are rounded and some are encircled by deep grooves. (Cassella 2025)
Previously, the oldest known three-dimensional map was a rock slab carved with a local river network and landscape features about 3,000 years ago in the Bronze Age. The Segognole 3 map provides a new view of these prehistoric people's perception of the world around them. (Science News Today)
These reports certainly seem credible and may, indeed, represent the oldest map in the world. I, however, am more interested in the female representation and the purposeful way the water reportedly interacts with it, providing animation of a biological process. In any case, the two features provide some insight into the cognitive processes of people in that distant age.
NOTE: One or more images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
PRIMARY REFERENCES:
Cassella, Carly, 2025, Earliest Known 3D Map Found in Prehistoric French Cavern, Say Experts, 7 January 2025, https://www.yahoo.com/news/. Accessed online 14 January 2025.
Pacillo, Lara, 2025, World’s oldest 3D map discovered, 13 January 2025, University of Adelaide, https://www.sciencedaily.com. Accessed online 14 January 2025.
Science News Today, 2025, World’s Oldest 3D Map Unearthed in French Cave, 17 January 2025, https://www.sciencenewstoday.org. Accessed online 22 January 2025.
SECONDARY REFERENCE:
Thiry, Médard et al, 2024, Palaeolithic map
engraved for staging water flows in a Paris Basin shelter, Oxford Journal of Archaeology. DOI:
10.1111/ojoa.12316.
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