欧州最古の地図か　１９００年に発見の石板　仏研究

【ブレストＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス西部で１９００年に発見された青銅器時代の石板は、最古の欧州の地図だった。今週発表の研究論文で科学者らが説明した。（写真は仏フィニステール県当局が公開した石板「Ｓａｉｎｔ－Ｂｅｌｅｃ」。仏西部ルアンで）
　科学誌「Ｂｕｌｌｅｔｉｎ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　Ｆｒｅｎｃｈ　Ｐｒｅｈｉｓｔｏｒｉｃ　Ｓｏｃｉｅｔｙ」に掲載された研究論文の著者の一人で、考古学者のイバン・パイレー氏は、「Ｓａｉｎｔ－Ｂｅｌｅｃ」として知られる４０００年前の石板に刻まれている模様について、同国西部モンターニュ・ノワール地方の一部を示していると指摘し、「欧州の一領域を示す最古の地図だ」と述べた。
　重さ約１トンの石板は、縦と横の長さがそれぞれ２．２メートルと１．５メートル。研究は２０１７年に始まったばかりだ。
　研究者らは、線でつながれたモチーフの繰り返しは、縦横３０キロと２１キロの土地を示し、またその土地が王もしくは王子の所有であることを意味している可能性もあるとした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/14-13:48）

A Bronze-age slab first uncovered in 1900 in western France is the oldest map in Europe, according to a study released this week.
The 4,000-year-old object, known as the Saint-Belec slab, is engraved with markings that represent part of the Black Mountains region of western France, said Yvan Pailler, an archaeologist and one of the authors of the study published in the Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society.
Today, it is the oldest map of a territory in Europe, he said.
You can see on the slab carvings which, at first sight, are not understandable.
You must really take your time to start to comprehend the way the motifs are organised and structured and the way they are interlinked through lines.
Archaeologist Paul du Chatellier discovered the slab at an ancient burial ground in Finistere in 1900, and it was stored for decades at one of his properties.
Researchers only began to study the rock -- which measures 2.2 metres by 1.5 metres and weighs a ton -- in 2017.
The repeated motifs joined by lines represented a territory 30 kilometres long and 21 kilometres wide and may signify the ownership of the land by a prince or a king, the researchers said.
If we could decipher what these symbols mean, we would know what the map represents, Paillier said, adding that the slab raises many questions.
Can we still talk about societies where writing didn't exist and of pre or protohistory when you can produce a map with a caption?