Europe's Oldest Map Dates Back Over 4,000 Years Into The Bronze Age

Publish date: 2024-05-03

According to Ancient Origins, the Saint-Bélec slab was unearthed in 1900 in the region known as Brittany in France. A man named Paul du Chatellier was conducting an excavation when he came across this broken slab of stone in a grave mound from the Bronze Age. Following its discovery, the map was moved to a private collection before getting picked up by the Museum of National Archeology two decades later. It was not thought about for another 60 years.

In the 1990's, the slab was placed at the home of Mr. du Chatellier, where it again lay undisturbed until 2014. Until that point, the historical artifact had essentially vanished. It wasn't until three years later that the slab was truly examined by a research team. Following multiple tests and extensive study by archeologists, the true value of this stone tablet was finally revealed (per All That's Interesting).

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