The Paleolithic rock shelter of Ségognole 3 in the Paris Basin contains a miniature representation of the surrounding landscape, says a team of archaeologists from the University of Adelaide and the MINES Paris – PSL.
View of the three-dimensional map on the floor of Ségognole 3 rock shelter. Image credit: Médard Thiry.
The Ségognole 3 rock shelter has been known since the 1980s for its artistic engravings of two horses in a Late Paleolithic style on either side of a female pubic figuration.
In 2017, archaeologists found that Paleolithic people had worked the sandstone in a way that mirrored the female form, and opened fractures for infiltrating water into the sandstone that nourished an outflow at the base of the pelvic triangle.
New research suggests that part of the floor of the sandstone shelter which was shaped and adapted by Paleolithic people around 13,000 years ago was modeled to reflect the region’s natural water flows and geomorphological features.
“What we’ve described is not a map as we understand it today — with distances, directions, and travel times — but rather a three-dimensional miniature depicting the functioning of a landscape, with runoff from highlands into streams and rivers, the convergence of valleys, and the downstream formation of lakes and swamps,” said Dr. Anthony Milnes, an archaeologist at the University of Adelaide.
“For Paleolithic peoples, the direction of water flows and the recognition of landscape features were likely more important than modern concepts like distance and time.”
“Our study demonstrates that human modifications to the hydraulic behavior in and around the shelter extended to modeling natural water flows in the landscape in the region around the rock shelter.”
“These are exceptional findings and clearly show the mental capacity, imagination and engineering capability of our distant ancestors.”
Thanks to his extensive research on the origins of Fontainebleau sandstone, the authors recognized several fine-scale morphological features that could not have formed naturally, suggesting they were modified by early humans.
“Our research showed that Paleolithic humans sculpted the sandstone to promote specific flow paths for infiltrating and directing rainwater which is something that had never been recognized by archaeologists,” said Dr. Médard Thiry from the Mines Paris – PSL.
“The fittings probably have a much deeper, mythical meaning, related to water.”
“The two hydraulic installations — that of the sexual figuration and that of the miniature landscape — are 2-3 m from each other and are sure to relay a profound meaning of conception of life and nature, which will never be accessible to us.”
The researchers discovered the presence of three-dimensional modeling by closely examining fine-scale geomorphological features.
“This completely new discovery offers a better understanding and insight into the capacity of these early humans,” Dr. Thiry said.
Before this discovery, the oldest known three-dimensional map was understood to be a large portable rock slab engraved by people of the Bronze Age around 3,000 years ago.
That map depicted a local river network and earth mounds, reflecting a more modern map concept used for navigation.
“Collaborating across disciplines — such as archaeology, geology and geomorphology — is vital in science,” Dr. Milnes said.
“We believe the most productive research outcomes are found at the boundaries between disciplines.”
“Re-evaluating field studies and conducting frequent site visits are important,” Dr. Thiry said.
“It’s clear from our ongoing project that insights and interpretations do not appear immediately but emerge through new observations and interdisciplinary discussions.”
The discovery is reported in a paper in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
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Médard Thiry & Anthony Milnes. 2025. Palaeolithic Map Engraved for Staging Water Flows in a Paris Basin Shelter. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 44 (1): 2-26; doi: 10.1111/ojoa.12316