Many re-creations of old maps include dragons or other mythical sea creatures. Some include the phrase "Here Be Dragons." Yet, this phrase appeared on only one 16th-century globe. Although it was rare for cartographers to mark areas that were unfamiliar to them with writing, the idea that uncharted lands contained wonders and strange monsters appeals to the imagination as much today as it did in the past.

Of course, there were no dragons, but some of the earliest mapmakers did have to deal with enormous animals. The earliest known maps date back to the Paleolithic Period, when humans shared the Earth with giant creatures, like the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primogenuis). Later mapmakers, such as the Babylonians, incorporated mythical beasts into their maps.

As cartography technology improved, maps became more accurate. The ancient Greeks made advancements in mapmaking. These advancements served as the basis for other cartographers. In the second century C.E., Chinese mapmakers developed a marking system that stood for both land formations and human structures. Muslim thinkers charted the world with increasing accuracy during the Islamic Golden Age. Maps throughout history have reflected their maker’s priorities, values and beliefs. They give important insights into how people of the past viewed the world.

Mammoth Ivory Maps

The woolly mammoth was a relative of the elephant that lived on the steppes and tundra of North America and Eurasia from around 300,000 years ago to around 3,700 years ago. To humans of the Ice Age, mammoths were a significant source of meat. In addition, people used their bones to build huts and their tusks to make tools and figurines. In at least a few instances, the mammoth tusks were used to create maps.

In fact, what is believed to be the oldest map ever discovered is a set of engravings on a mammoth tusk dating from around 25,000 years ago. The tusk was found in 1962 in what is now known as the Czech Republic. The tusk includes engravings believed to represent a mountain, a river, valleys, and trails around a town. Another engraved mammoth tusk, found in 1965 in Ukraine, shows huts along a river.

Abauntz Map

Mammoth tusks were not the only medium used by humans living in the Stone Age to make maps. The European Magdalenian culture, dating from 11,000 to 17,000 years ago, appears to have etched a map onto a stone tablet. The tablet was found in a cave in Abauntz, in northeast Spain. Experts say it was created around 13,500 years ago.

The tablet is just a few inches in size (17.8 centimeters by 12.7 centimeters) and shows a landscape of rivers, mountains, ponds and pathways. It also depict herds of ibex, a type of wild goat. It has been interpreted as a portable map of a past hunt or hunting grounds.

The Çatalhöyük Map

Several thousand years after the mammoth ivory maps and the Abauntz map, humans were making maps on the walls of buildings. In the southern Anatolian Plateau in modern Turkey are the two tells (human-made mounds) of Çatalhöyük. This was the site of a Neolithic village formed between 7400 and 5200 B.C.E. The site was the subject of detailed excavations in the early 1960s and is still being excavated.

Of particular interest is a 3-meter (10-foot) mural found on a wall in the eastern mound, dating around 6600 B.C.E. The lower half of the mural shows tightly packed "cells" thought to represent a village, while the upper half depicts mountain peaks and dark spots that some experts say indicate a volcano. Others disagree with this map-like interpretation, arguing the upper shape is merely a leopard skin and not a volcano. Given that there is no evidence for a nearby volcanic eruption, they claim that the mural is merely art. However, a recent study determined that the nearby Mount Hasan likely erupted around 6900 B.C. It is possible, therefore, that the spotted object in the mural is a volcano.

Babylonian Maps

The first known map of the world was produced in the Mesopotamian kingdom of Babylon, which spanned modern-day Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This map, engraved on a clay tablet, shows Babylon at the center of the world, indicating its importance to the mapmaker.

An inscription in cuneiform, an ancient writing system, takes up the top portion of the tablet and describes mythical creatures thought to exist in the depicted regions. Circles represent Babylonian cities, such as Assyria, and a band of writing that reads "Salt [or Bitter] Sea" encircles the cities. The Babylonian World Map was intended to be a symbolic map. It dates back to around 600 B.C.E.

Ancient Greek Maps

Anaximander of Miletus was a Greek philosopher born around 610 B.C.E. He produced the first map of the world in Greece, though only descriptions and revisions have survived. Like the Babylonian map, his map was circular and featured Greece, specifically Delphi, at the center. Europe was on one side, with Asia on the other. The entire world was surrounded by water.

Hecataeus, also of Miletus, lived during the fifth century B.C.E. and improved on Anaximander's map. He traveled extensively and wrote an account of his travels in Asia, called the Periodos. Hecataeus drew a map based on Anaximander's. By examining surviving fragments and text of this map, historians believe Hecataeus included details he learned on his travels in his version.

A few hundred years later, Claudius Ptolemy tried his hand at cartography. Ptolemy was a scholar of Greek descent living in Alexandria, Egypt. He lived from around 100 to 170 C.E. and is often called "the father of geography." In his work Geographia, he introduced an approach to mapping the world using latitude and longitude. He also created a way to flatten the Earth onto a two-dimensional map.

Chinese Silk Maps

In 1975 C.E., three maps from the Han Dynasty were found in a tomb in a Chinese architectural site called Mawangdui. These maps date back to second-century China. Each presents a different aspect of geography. One of the maps shows rivers, mountains and other physical features, as well as human settlements. The map uses standardized markings, including consistent symbols for mountains, rivers and other features. Another map found at the site is a political map. It shows the border of a neighboring country. It also shows where the military was stationed. This map was likely used for military purposes. These are the oldest maps found in China, but their details suggest that there were earlier maps made in China. The people of China likely used maps for war, building cities and even as artwork.

Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik Map and Other Islamic Maps

In 1154 C.E., al-Idrisi, an Islamic scholar, finished another famous map based on earlier maps from the Greco-Roman scholar Ptolemy, other Arab mapmakers, and his own research. His map was one of the most detailed maps of the time. It consists of many sections that can be put together into a larger map. Al-Idrisi’s map shows the Islamic Empire, the Mediterranean Sea and other important landmarks.

This map is also important because it shows information about the culture it came from. While most modern maps follow the European model of positioning north at the top so that Europe falls in the middle, this map positions south at the top. This is so the Islamic holy city of Mecca is in a prominent spot. Later, Christian maps placed east at the top of the map. This put Jerusalem, their holy city, in the center of the map. Differences between the Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik map and later Christian maps show that their cultural values differed.

Other Islamic cartographers made equally significant contributions to people’s understanding of geography. A mathematician named Al-Khwarizmi improved upon an early version of latitude and longitude. He was able to map the coordinates of more than 2,000 significant sites on his world map. His system was accurate enough that it became the basis for today’s latitude and longitude system.

The contributions that early cartographers made to the history of mapmaking had some unintended negative effects. The maps of Islamic cartographers of the 12th century C.E. were later used by the Europeans to create new Europe-centric maps, navigate the globe and eventually oppress and colonize other parts of the world. At the same time, those advances led to today’s complex maps. The GPS navigational systems used in cars, phones and other digital devices use the same concepts as the world’s earliest maps.