Get ready to journey through 7 mysterious maps that challenge everything we know about ancient history! From lost coastlines to mind-blowing Bronze Age topography, this video uncovers the secrets and debates behind the world's strangest maps. Dive in, hit that subscribe button for more history adventures, and let us know in the comments which map blew your mind the most! #history #maps #mystery #ancient #explore
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@noelpolotv
0:00 - Introduction to Ancient Maps
1:42 - The Discovery of the Piri Reis Map
4:43 - The Saint-Bélec Slab Map
7:15 - The Bedolina Map and Ancient Abstractions
9:49 - Renaissance World Maps and Lost Sources
12:29 - Çatalhöyük: The First City Map Debate
15:13 - The Sumerian Planisphere and Cosmic Events
17:48 - The Hacı Ahmed Map and Final Reflections
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@noelpolotv
0:00 - Introduction to Ancient Maps
1:42 - The Discovery of the Piri Reis Map
4:43 - The Saint-Bélec Slab Map
7:15 - The Bedolina Map and Ancient Abstractions
9:49 - Renaissance World Maps and Lost Sources
12:29 - Çatalhöyük: The First City Map Debate
15:13 - The Sumerian Planisphere and Cosmic Events
17:48 - The Hacı Ahmed Map and Final Reflections
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Get the parchment from 1513 and lay it on the table in front of you.
00:06A long southern coastline is drawn here in fine ink, which no European at that time had ever seen.
00:14This is the map of Piri Reis, the Ottoman admiral, and there is no dispute about it.
00:19It remained quiet for almost a hundred years, with some maintaining that the real continent of Antarctica lies hidden beneath
00:28the ice at its southern edge.
00:32Others argue that it is merely a fictional continent drawn by all cartographers in the 15th century.
00:41But the map of Piri Reis is just one of seven maps with similar strange characteristics.
00:46Each of them shows.
00:49It shows something that, according to official history, its creator should not have known.
00:56A river valley carved in stone 2,000 years before Christ, exactly like modern topographic models.
01:04A city plan on the wall of a sanctuary drawn almost 9,000 years ago, and a star map where
01:12some see a ritual,
01:14while others see the impact of an ancient asteroid.
01:20Seven maps laid out across different eras and continents, and a common question, how did they know this?
01:27Let's start with the very map that made people search for the others.
01:32But before we start, if you're new to our channel, please click the subscribe button,
01:36and also hit the notification bell so you'll always be updated with our new videos.
01:42In 1929, the German theologian Gustav Deismann was organizing an old cabinet at the Topkapi Palace.
01:51In the middle of the crumpled manuscripts, he found a piece of a map drawn on parchment made from gazelle
01:57skin.
01:58In the upper corner, you can see the signature of Admiral Piri Reis, and the date 1513.
02:05This is the only remaining part of the large world map that was created, according to the author, from more
02:12than 20 sources.
02:13These include maps from the time of Alexander the Great and a map by Coulomb, which did not survive,
02:21showing the coasts of Africa, South America, and a long landmass in the south that extends beyond the edge of
02:28the paper.
02:29This is where a debate began that has continued for almost a century and has never subsided.
02:35In 1965, the American historian Charles Hapgood stated the following,
02:41In his opinion, the curve of the southern coast on the map matches the shape of Antarctica, before it was
02:49covered by ice.
02:51But Antarctica was only officially discovered in 182300 years after Piri Reis.
02:57How did the Ottoman admiral copy its shape if, according to geology,
03:03the continent has been hidden under a kilometer-thick layer of ice for millions of years?
03:08Hapgood proposed a theory about the movement of the Earth's crust, or crustal displacement,
03:14but this was not accepted by modern geology.
03:17The U.S. Library of Commerce, UNESCO, and most independent researchers point to a much simpler explanation.
03:26In the 15th century, all European cartographers drew a hypothetical continent at the bottom part of the map
03:34to serve as a counterbalance for the world.
03:38They called it Terra Australis, which means southern land,
03:42and considered it an essential part of any globe.
03:47The southern coastline on Piri Reis' map connects smoothly to South America,
03:52with no ocean in between.
03:55And this mark clearly refers to Terra Australis, not Antarctica,
04:00as historians of cartography have long noted.
04:04But even setting aside the debate about the southern part,
04:08the rest of the map is still remarkable in its accuracy.
04:12The accuracy of the coastline of Brazil.
04:15The location of the islands and the direction of the ocean currents.
04:20All of this required sources that no longer exist today.
04:25The maps used by Piri Reis have disappeared,
04:28and only this fragment made from gazelle skin has survived.
04:32If this analysis has caught your interest,
04:36make sure to subscribe because the next six maps are more detailed and even more unique.
04:43Thousands of documents passed through Topkapi Palace,
04:47but the next map was laid out in the basement of a forgotten castle for an entire century.
04:52In 1900, French archaeologist Paul Duchatelier excavated a Bronze Age tomb in Finisterre in Western Britain.
05:03From the mound, he pulled out a stone slab almost two meters long,
05:08covered with strange lines and circles.
05:10The slab was taken to the basement of Cernus Castle.
05:15And it was forgotten for 114 long years.
05:20In 2014, it was found again,
05:23this time as an unknown artifact from an old excavation.
05:28It was only in 2021 that researchers fully scanned its 3D model using a laser.
05:36The lines carved on the stone match,
05:39the actual valley of the Odette River in Western France,
05:42which is about 30 kilometers long.
05:47The accuracy of the match is close to 80%,
05:50and scientists published an article in April 2021.
05:56The age of the slab is estimated to be between 2050 and 1600 BC,
06:02according to current estimates.
06:03This is the oldest known map of a specific territory in all of Europe.
06:09And the most amazing thing about this slab is that its surface is not flat.
06:14The ancient artists deliberately shaped the stone according to the form of the land,
06:20just like what is done in modern topographic models.
06:23The valleys were made into engravings,
06:26and the elevated parts along the river's curve
06:29were created by thin cuts on the stone.
06:33How did they know this, you might ask?
06:36Not because of a conspiracy,
06:38not from lost knowledge,
06:39but because of skill,
06:41of artistry.
06:44And yet, this very fact changes our understanding of what humans were capable of during the Bronze Age.
06:54Today, school lessons still depict the Bronze Age with crude knives and simple ceramics.
07:03But this person, using a hammer and chisel,
07:06created a highly detailed 3D map.
07:09The St. Bel-Ex slab has only one side facing the sky,
07:14and the next map lies with its entire surface facing the sky.
07:19In the Valcamonica Valley in northern Italy,
07:23surrounded by mountains,
07:25there is a large rock.
07:27Engraved on it is a scene that researchers have called the Bedellina map,
07:31named after the nearby town.
07:34This is a petroglyph from the Bronze Age
07:36that was carved into the rocks over several centuries by different generations.
07:41Fields,
07:42houses,
07:43paths,
07:44fences,
07:44and connecting lines.
07:46All of these were depicted as if seen from above,
07:49as if the ancient artist was looking at the place from a height
07:52that would have been impossible for him to reach back then.
07:56The Bedellina map is part of the UNESCO heritage site
08:00under the general title,
08:02Rock Art of Valcamonica.
08:04It dates back to around the 2nd millennium BC,
08:08with later additions from the Iron Age.
08:11According to archaeologists,
08:13this is one of the oldest topographic maps in all of known Europe.
08:17And again,
08:19the same question arises.
08:21How did they know this,
08:23and why did they need it?
08:25How could someone in 2000 BC have a view from above
08:29if he had never flown?
08:32The possible answer is simple,
08:34and at the same time astonishing,
08:37and it doesn't require any miracles.
08:39This view does not require flying.
08:43It requires abstraction,
08:44the ability to keep the entire valley in your mind,
08:48the ability to project it onto a flat surface,
08:51and to preserve the relationship between all its parts,
08:55just like a modern cartographer does.
08:58What we can do now in an hour with a map editor
09:01took many years for the ancient art
09:03that passed knowledge by word of mouth.
09:08Experts are still debating which community
09:11the Bedellina map depicts.
09:13Perhaps it is not just a real place,
09:16but a collective image of a perfect community.
09:19If so,
09:20we have something even more unusual before us.
09:24Not a report on the land,
09:26but a project.
09:27Not a map of the past,
09:29but a map of the future
09:30carved in stone for the next generations.
09:33And have you noticed
09:35how often the claim
09:36that it comes from older sources
09:38keeps coming back in this story?
09:42Bedellina shows a part of the world,
09:44and the next map
09:46will once again embrace the whole world if,
09:49where the debate that is 500 years old
09:51will return again,
09:53and where the name of Hapgood
09:54will appear once more.
09:55In 1531,
09:58the French mathematician Oron's Fine
10:00published a heart-shaped map of the world.
10:04It is divided into two hemispheres,
10:06with a large and round continent
10:08neatly drawn at the South Pole.
10:11This continent has coastlines,
10:14rivers, and mountains drawn on it
10:16as if someone had already seen it.
10:19Hapgood,
10:20the very author of the theory
10:22about the movement of the Earth's crust,
10:24also looked at this map
10:26and once again saw Antarctica
10:27in the southern continent,
10:29along with its outlines,
10:31which he believed were accurate.
10:34Historians of cartography
10:35also see the same thing here
10:37as in the case of Piri Reis,
10:39and it's quite convincing.
10:42Finney was simply following
10:44the tradition of his time
10:45by drawing a large imaginary continent
10:48in the South for balance.
10:50He also called it Terra Australis,
10:53and nowhere did he say
10:54that anyone had actually seen it.
10:56If one were to set aside
10:57the debate about the southern coastline,
11:00everything else on Finney's map
11:02is remarkably detailed
11:03in its own right.
11:04The accuracy of the equatorial latitudes,
11:07the easily recognizable shapes
11:09of Africa and India,
11:11and the consistency
11:12with the works of ancient geography.
11:15And above all,
11:17Finney, like Piri Reis,
11:18worked using older sources
11:20that have not reached us.
11:24Renaissance cartography
11:25was developed from ancient books,
11:27Arabic atlases,
11:29Chinese records,
11:30and accounts of sailors.
11:33How many of these atlases
11:35were lost in the fires
11:36at the Library of Alexandria,
11:38the House of Wisdom in Baghdad,
11:40and the monasteries
11:42of Constantinople?
11:44No one can know
11:45exactly how much knowledge
11:47was lost in the fires
11:49and wars of past centuries.
11:52Perhaps we no longer need
11:54to search for an answer
11:55to the mystery
11:56of how they saw Antarctica.
11:58It is enough to say
11:59that they relied on knowledge
12:01that we no longer possess
12:02in its complete form.
12:04And this,
12:05in a strange way,
12:07is more disturbing
12:08than the version
12:09of a pre-flood
12:10and highly advanced civilization.
12:14Because this means
12:16that our history
12:16was written on the ruins
12:18of what was lost
12:19and not built
12:20on a solid foundation.
12:23And that's it.
12:24These are the Renaissance maps
12:26from just 500 years ago.
12:28Now,
12:29imagine going back
12:308,000 years into the past,
12:33back to the time
12:34of the very first cities.
12:36In 1961,
12:38the British archaeologist
12:39James Mellart
12:40began excavations
12:42in central Turkey.
12:43He was excavating
12:45the ancient city
12:46of Çatalhöyük,
12:47a settlement
12:48that dates back
12:49to around 9,000 years ago.
12:52A fragment of a mural
12:54almost 3 meters long
12:55was preserved
12:56on the wall
12:57of one of the rooms.
12:59This is how Mellart
13:00interprets this painting.
13:02And his interpretation
13:03is making waves
13:05in the entire world
13:06of science.
13:07In the foreground,
13:09according to him,
13:10are rectangular blocks
13:11arranged in a tight grid.
13:13This is the actual plan
13:15of Çatalhöyük.
13:17Houses side by side,
13:19massive,
13:20like the cells
13:20of a beehive
13:21or honeycomb.
13:23And behind these
13:24is a mountain
13:25with two peaks
13:26and a cloud
13:27coming out
13:27from its very top.
13:30Mellart identified this
13:31as the Hassendal volcano,
13:33which actually stands
13:35within sight
13:35from the ancient settlement.
13:37And it is estimated
13:39that the painting
13:40dates back
13:40to around 6,600 years
13:43before Christ,
13:44the era
13:45of the first farmers.
13:46If he is correct,
13:48we are looking
13:48at the oldest map
13:49in known human history.
13:51In 2014,
13:53a team of geologists
13:55led by Axel Schmidt
13:56published the results
13:58of their study
13:58on the age
13:59of the volcano.
14:01They traced
14:02its eruption
14:03to around 7,000 B.C.
14:06during the height
14:06of Çatalhöyük.
14:08This means
14:09the inhabitants
14:11of the city
14:11may have actually
14:12seen the pillar
14:13of fire
14:14above the
14:14Hassanda volcano,
14:16but there are
14:16other opinions.
14:17and these are also
14:19based on archaeological
14:20data and comparisons.
14:22In 2006,
14:24the archaeologist
14:25Stephanie Meese
14:26published a detailed
14:28analysis
14:28of the same painting.
14:30She states
14:31that the painting
14:32is not a map,
14:33but a drawing
14:34of leopard skin
14:35on a geometric background.
14:38For the inhabitants
14:39of Çatalhöyük,
14:40leopards were
14:41sacred animals
14:42and could be found
14:43on all the walls
14:44of the buildings.
14:46Who is right
14:47in this debate?
14:48Science has not
14:50decided yet
14:51and perhaps
14:51never will,
14:52but even if it is
14:54just a pattern
14:55and not a map,
14:56the very fact
14:57that there is
14:58a debate
14:59about something
15:00that is 9,000 years old
15:02suggests
15:03so many things.
15:06Çatalhöyük faces
15:07its mountain
15:07and the next map
15:09looks in a completely
15:10different direction
15:11to the sky.
15:12In 1500,
15:14a round clay tablet
15:16was discovered
15:16in the ruins
15:17of King Ashurbanipal's
15:19library in what
15:20is now Iraq.
15:21It is listed
15:22under the inventory
15:23number KK8538
15:25and it remained
15:26undecoded
15:27for a long time.
15:29It is called
15:30the Sumerian planisphere,
15:31a map of the night sky
15:33divided into
15:34eight equal sectors.
15:36The sectors
15:38show the constellations
15:39and the carefully
15:40recorded calculations
15:41of their movements
15:42in the sky.
15:44Most experts
15:45in ancient cuneiform
15:47agree on a simple
15:48explanation
15:49for the nature
15:50of the artifact.
15:52This is an
15:53astronomical ritual text
15:55written around
15:56the 7th century BC
15:57according to older sources.
16:00The Sumerians
16:01were skilled astronomers
16:03who observed the sky
16:04more accurately
16:05than Europeans
16:06did 2,000 years later.
16:07But in 2008
16:10the British engineers
16:11Alan Bond
16:12and Mark Hempsell
16:13proposed a completely
16:14different interpretation.
16:16According to their
16:17calculations
16:18one part of the sign
16:20depicts the observation
16:21of a particular
16:22celestial object
16:23and not just
16:25any asteroid
16:26but an asteroid
16:28that may have
16:28fallen in the territory
16:29of modern Austria
16:31about 5,000 years ago.
16:33Bond and Hempsell
16:34linked this record
16:35to the Doc Kofel's
16:37landslide
16:37a massive rock slide
16:39with an unknown origin.
16:41If they are correct
16:42the tablet records
16:44the account of a witness
16:45to an ancient
16:46cosmic catastrophe.
16:49Most experts
16:50did not accept
16:51these conclusions
16:52because the calculations
16:54contained
16:54too many assumptions.
16:56But even without
16:58the asteroid
16:59the planisphere
17:00remains one of the
17:01most mysterious
17:02tablets of the
17:03ancient world.
17:04It contains
17:05astronomical data
17:06whose accuracy
17:08for the 6th century
17:09BC is almost
17:10unbelievable.
17:12And again
17:12the same phrase
17:14appears
17:14recorded from
17:16older sources.
17:18Which sources
17:19exactly
17:20where they came from
17:21and how old
17:22they are
17:22no one knows
17:23today.
17:25Whichever version
17:26you believe more
17:27let us know
17:28in the comments
17:29below the video.
17:30some believe that
17:32the planisphere
17:32is an account
17:33of someone
17:34witnessing the fall
17:35of a celestial
17:35body to earth.
17:37Others are convinced
17:38that it is simply
17:39a star calendar
17:41for rituals
17:41and priestly divination.
17:44Which side
17:45are you on?
17:46The asteroid camp
17:47or the ritual camp?
17:49The planisphere
17:50talks about the sky
17:51while the last map
17:52talks about a path
17:53that they should have
17:54already known
17:55back then.
17:56In 1599
17:57a world map
17:58written in Turkish
17:59was published
18:00in Venice.
18:01The author
18:02or compiler
18:03is believed
18:04to be someone
18:04named Haji Ahmed
18:06and almost
18:07nothing is known
18:08about him.
18:10The map
18:11shows the two
18:11hemispheres
18:12the old world
18:13and the new world
18:14with remarkable
18:15accuracy
18:16in the coastlines
18:17of the continents.
18:18And there is
18:19another detail
18:20that historians
18:21of cartography
18:22around the world
18:23pay attention to.
18:24In the northern
18:25part of North America
18:28the map shows
18:29what appears
18:29to be a northwest passage.
18:31This is a sea route
18:33from the Atlantic
18:33to the Pacific Ocean
18:34at the planet's
18:35highest polar latitude.
18:38This passage
18:39was officially navigated
18:41only at the beginning
18:42of the 20th century
18:43through the expedition
18:44of Roald Amundsen.
18:46In 1599
18:48geographers and sailors
18:50shouldn't have even
18:51been able to speculate
18:52about it.
18:52By the way
18:53the identity
18:54of Haji Ahmed
18:55has not yet
18:55been documented
18:56in any archive
18:57up to the present.
19:00Some cartographers
19:01consider this map
19:02a forgery
19:03from the 15th century
19:04made for Venetian clients.
19:09Some consider
19:10it's a later forgery
19:11that appeared
19:12after Roald Amundsen's
19:13discovery
19:14while others consider
19:17it has the genuine work
19:19of a polymath
19:19who collected material
19:21from as many
19:22different sources
19:22as possible.
19:25And again
19:26just like in the case
19:27of Piri Reis
19:28and Fine
19:28we end up
19:29at the same dead end.
19:30The sources
19:31of the collection
19:32are not available
19:32to us.
19:35We have a map
19:36we have accuracy
19:37but no explanation
19:39based on common logic
19:40and when there are
19:41seven such maps
19:42and they are spread
19:43across different periods
19:44and continents
19:46you'll start to look
19:47at the list
19:48in a different way.
19:49What if the answer
19:50to the question
19:51of how they knew this
19:53isn't the same
19:54for all seven?
19:56What if they had
19:57many different sources
19:58and all of them
19:59were lost down
20:00to the last line
20:01down to the last word?
20:03How often have you
20:05thought about this
20:05yourself?
20:06While looking at
20:07an old map
20:08in a museum
20:09or in a book?
20:10Seven maps laid out
20:12across the millennia
20:13the Bronze Age
20:14Sumerian
20:15Renaissance
20:16and the late Ottoman
20:17written with its
20:19stone slab
20:20Katalhoiuk
20:21Istanbul
20:22Venice
20:23Valkamanica
20:24and ancient Nineveh.
20:25They are separated
20:26by thousands of years
20:28and thousands of kilometers
20:29and they all have
20:31one thing in common
20:32each of them
20:34shows something
20:34that according
20:35to official history
20:37its creator
20:37should not have seen
20:39and each one
20:41relies on sources
20:42that we no longer
20:43have access to today.
20:46The simplest explanation
20:47no longer requires
20:49shifts in the Earth's crust
20:50ancient aliens
20:52or a conspiracy.
20:54It requires something else
20:56the recognition
20:57that our chain of knowledge
20:59is broken somewhere
21:00disappearing somewhere
21:02into darkness.
21:03Between us and those
21:05who drew these maps
21:06lies an abyss
21:08of lost books
21:09burned libraries
21:11forgotten arts
21:14and broken lines of knowledge
21:16passed down
21:16from generation to generation.
21:20and the modern history
21:21of humanity
21:22is not a complete body
21:24of knowledge
21:24but a collection
21:25of surviving fragments
21:27of fabric.
21:31Perhaps that's why
21:32every such map
21:33deeply moves anyone
21:34who looks at it closely.
21:38Not because it proves
21:39anything unusual
21:41but because it reminds us
21:43of how much we have lost.
21:45the seven maps
21:47are seven windows
21:48into rooms
21:49whose keys
21:49have been lost
21:50to us forever.
21:52And in a room
21:54beneath the museum
21:55in the monastery's archive
21:57or under a layer
21:58of Earth
21:59lies the eighth
22:00such map.
22:02In your opinion
22:03which of these
22:04seven maps
22:05is the hardest
22:06to find a simple
22:07explanation
22:07for using
22:08common logic?
22:09Write it in the comments.
22:11If you enjoyed
22:12this deep dive
22:13into ancient maps
22:14the next video
22:16will go even deeper
22:18because there are
22:19many more scrolls
22:20lying beneath our feet
22:21that according
22:23to official history
22:24we shouldn't even have.
22:26of.