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Overhead view of the Saint-Bélec slab.          Source: Denis Glicksman / Inrap

A Bronze Age Rock Has Become a 'Treasure Map' for Researchers

A piece of rock, adorned with mysterious markings that have remained largely unstudied for 4,000 years, has emerged as a remarkable "treasure map" for archaeologists. This ancient artifact, known as...
The Hunt-Lenox Globe (Public Domain)

Here Be Dragons: Exploring the Hunt-Lenox Globe (Video)

The Hunt-Lenox globe is a remarkable historical artifact that holds a significant place in cartographic history. As the second-oldest surviving terrestrial globe , it offers invaluable insights into...
Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘satellite map’ of Imola. Source: Wallpaper Flare.

How Leonardo da Vinci Made a "Satellite" Map in 1502 (Video)

In 1502, while working as a military engineer for Cesare Borgia , Leonardo da Vinci undertook the task of creating a unique map of Imola. At the time, the prevailing maps were depicted in a birds eye...
Phantoms islands never existed in the first place, but their origins are varied. Source: Indstock / Adobe Stock

7 Phantom Islands We Never Really Discovered

The Earth is a big place, and it has taken us a long, long time to fully map it. Today, it is easy to feel like the last of the great adventures is over, and we’ve found all that there is to be found...
A printed map from the 15th century depicting Ptolemy's description of the Ecumene by Johannes Schnitzer (1482) (Public Domain)

Terra Australis The Fabled Continent Of Antiquity’s Antipodes

For nearly 2,000 years, right up until Captain James Cook’s second voyage to the Pacific in 1775, geographers debated the existence of Terra Australis, a mythical landmass to the south-east said to...
Antarctica (Public Domain) and Figure 7a © William James Veall: a drawn image of the very first portrait the writer discovered on Antarctica; Deriv.

Astonishing Human Heads: Do Satellite Photographs Now Prove Existence of Humans on Antarctica…6000 Years Ago? – Part I

Accurate geographical and cartographical information concerning the continent of Antarctica has only really been uncovered since AD 1822. However, in direct contradiction, ancient maps reveal...
Detail, the medieval Hereford Mappa Mundi, “Cloth of the World” in Hereford, England. Circa 1300.

Hereford Mappa Mundi: Legendary Cities, Monstrous Races, and Curious Medieval Beasts

A large calfskin canvas was secreted away beneath the floor of an English cathedral, featuring what, at first glance, appeared to be a map of the world. Once recovered and repaired, the map which is...
The ancient stone map dating back to 200 BC to 200 AD has been discovered in Colima, Mexico.         Source: INAH

Ancient Settlement Network Found Mapped in Stone in Mexico

Archaeologists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia ( INAH ) have confirmed the discovery of an ancient stone map carved into a volcanic rock in Colima , Mexico dating from between...
Section of the Carta Marina, 1527-39

Magic Mountains and Sea Serpents: the Secrets of Early Arctic Maps

By Tom Harper / The Conversation What comes to mind when you think of the Arctic? Ice, I imagine, polar bears, a barren cold landscape. And most would assume that these associations have remained the...
Plate 1: Australian eastern seaboard (Google Earth), Statue of Garuda (Hyougushi / Hideyuki KAMON from National Museum in Delhi, India/CC BY-SA 2.0) and Tamil inscriptions, Tamil Nadu. (Shivz Photography/CC BY 2.0) Deriv.

History’s Lost Transoceanic Voyages: Tamils and Sumerians Among the FIRST to Reach Australia and Antarctica?— PART II

Regarding interesting inscriptions and shapes found by satellite archaeology, revealing what might be ancient human occupation on the continent of Antarctica, author William James Veall writes that...
Plate 1: Australian eastern seaboard (Google Earth), statue of a Sumerian woman c. 2400 BC

Tamils and Sumerians Among the FIRST to Reach Australia and Antarctica? PART I

Guest Author, Satellite Archaeologist, and Independent Researcher, William James Veall updates his recently published article on "Antarctica Writings" on Ancient Origins , to include an alternative...
Antarctica (Public Domain) and Figure 6 © William James Veall: a drawn pattern of rocks seemingly set in the form of an ancient legend embedded into the seashore; Deriv.

A Message on the Shore: Do Satellite Photographs Now Prove Existence of Humans on Antarctica…6000 Years Ago? – Part II

Reading the history of Antarctica, references clearly state that there was never any indigenous flora and fauna of any kind present on the continent because the land mass had been completely covered...
Orcas attacking a whale, from Carta Marina (1539)

Mapping the Menacing Sea Monsters in Medieval and Renaissance Cartography

Until a few years ago, no serious consideration had been made of the many and varied representations of monsters found on world maps from the 10th century through to medieval and Renaissance times...
The early 17th century Selden map held at Oxford University is yielding priceless historical information, but much more study and imaging analysis need to be done to unlock all of its secrets.

Unlocking the Secrets of the Oldest Map of Maritime Asian Trade Routes Provides Unexpected Results

Secrets of the world’s oldest surviving map of maritime trade routes in Asia are being revealed with a range of modern imaging techniques and other research. Dating back to the early 17th century,...
Colorful Rainbow over an ocean rock in Iceland.

Phantom islands on ancient maps dismissed as mirages, myths, or mistakes

When explorers began making maps as they explored the world a couple of millennia ago they included land masses that later could not be found. As recently as 2012 an expedition went to one of these...
Babylonian Map of the World

The Babylonian map of the world sheds light on ancient perspectives

A damaged clay tablet discovered in the late 1800s in Sippar, Iraq is said to be the oldest map of the world. It was discovered on the banks of the Euphrates River, and published in 1899. Now housed...