The Bedolina Map: The World's Oldest Topographic Map

The Bedolina Map, carved in stone several millennia ago, is considered one of the oldest known topographical representations. Located in the Valcamonica Valley, Italy, it bears witness not only to the beginnings of cartography, but also to the profound societal transformations of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. This article explores its history, characteristics and place in the evolution of prehistoric societies.

The Bedolina Map: A Major Discovery of Rock Art

The Bedolina Map is a set of petroglyphs engraved on a sandstone slab of about 35 m², located at an altitude of 530 meters , overlooking the Valcamonica valley. This site belongs to a larger ensemble of rock art that includes about 200,000 engravings, an exceptional testimony to the evolution of prehistoric societies.

Dated to the end of the Bronze Age (around 2200 to 750 BC), then enriched in the Iron Age, this map was engraved by the Camunni, a protohistoric population that occupied this Alpine region. It represents an early attempt at modeling the territory, probably for the purposes of social and agricultural organization.

Bedolina map detail

Archaeologists have identified four phases of engraving in the creation of this map:

• Phase A : Representation of human and animal figures.
• Phase B : Drawing of the topographic plan in its entirety.
• Phase C : Adding houses, animals and armed warriors.
• Phase D : Added five stylized characters.

This superposition of engravings bears witness to an evolution in the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the valley and the increasing complexity of their society.

The Bedolina Map: A Detailed map of the Prehistoric World

Unlike the abstract petroglyphs found elsewhere, the Bedolina map exhibits a high degree of structure and precision , making it a true topographical map engraved in rock, the first antique map of Italy !

The main elements represented are:

• Plots of fields, suggesting organized agriculture .
• Houses and farms, with stylized sloping roofs.
• Roads and paths, connecting different spaces.
• Watercourses and irrigation systems, evidence of sophisticated water management.
• Human and animal figures, illustrating the coexistence between man and his environment.

This map is not only intended to demarcate a territory , but also seems to respond to practical, social and religious needs. Indeed, archaeologists believe that many elements of the Bedolina map are in some way prayers to the gods, in particular to ensure good harvests.

The spatial organization observed on this slab proves that cartography was not just a Greek or Roman tool, but a more ancient form of knowledge, used since prehistory to structure human societies .

The Bedolina Map: A Witness to the Evolution of Prehistoric Societies

The Bedolina map reflects a fundamental turning point in human history: the transition from a way of life based on hunting and gathering to a sedentary society, centered on livestock breeding and agriculture .

By mapping their living space, the populations of the time sought to organize their territory and perpetuate a collective memory. This act marks the emergence of new concerns:

• Land ownership, with a desire to demarcate cultivated land.
• Agricultural planning, essential for resource management.
• Social hierarchy, with distinctions between residential areas and agricultural spaces.
• Warlike conflicts and incursions, involving a more organized defense of the territory.

Thus, this rock map is much more than a simple engraving: it embodies the beginning of the structuring of human societies, laying the foundations of future civilizations.

Conclusion: The Bedolina Map, a cornerstone in the history of cartography

With its detailed engravings and complexity, the Bedolina Map is one of the oldest surviving examples of cartography in the world. It illustrates how early civilizations structured and represented their environment, long before modern maps.

It reminds us that cartography is a fundamental tool for understanding, organizing and transmitting knowledge about our world, a principle that remains at the heart of our contemporary societies.