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Scientists have recently unlocked the secrets of the world's oldest map, a 3,000-year-old clay tablet known as the Imago Mundi, which is believed to show the location of Noah’s Ark. The ancient Babylonian artifact, etched with cuneiform—a script using wedge-shaped symbols—has puzzled archaeologists for centuries. Discovered in what is now Iraq in 1882, the tablet is housed at the British Museum, where it has become one of its famous collections. The Imago Mundi depicts a circular world map, illustrating early Babylonian ideas about the world's creation. The map is thought to show the entire known world at the time, with...

The Babylonian map of the world is the oldest map of the world, in the world. Written and inscribed on clay in Mesopotamia around 2,900-years-ago, it is, like so many cuneiform tablets, incomplete. However, Irving Finkel and a particularly gifted student of his - Edith Horsley - managed to locate a missing piece of the map, slot it back into the cuneiform tablet, and from there set us all on journey through the somewhat mythical landscape of Mesopotamia to find the final resting place of the ark. And yes we mean that ark, as in Noah's ark. Although in the...

Chapter 3: EARLY CIVILIZATION, A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST FROM 3000 TO 1000 B.C. PART I The first civilizations after Babel were founded in the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile River valleys. Civilization also occurred at a very early date in the Indus and Yellow River valleys, but they are beyond the scope of this work. In this chapter we will concentrate on the two main civilizations of the "Fertile Crescent," Egypt and Mesopotamia, and conclude with a look at the smaller nations nearby, like the Phoenicians and Minoans. Map 4: The Middle East, about 2300 B.C. Shown here...

Researchers have finally decoded a Babylonian tablet thought to be the oldest map of the world. Created between 2,600 and 2,900 years ago, the Imago Mundi provided researchers with a unique glimpse into the beliefs and practices of the ancient civilization. The Babylonian tablet has a circular map with pieces of text written in cuneiform - an ancient writing system that used wedge-shaped symbols - which describes the early creation of the world.