How do you decipher the Saint-Bélec plate? Archaeologists have carried out new excavations in western France to unravel the mystery of this block of slate, engraved 4,000 years ago and believed to be the oldest map of an area in Europe.
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“We are trying to better contextualize the discovery, have dating elements and check if there are any fragments left,” explains archaeologist Yvan Pailler, professor at the University of Western Brittany (UBO), at the construction site. Excavations of the Saint-Bélec Tumulus, in Leuhan, in the Black Mountains of Brittany.
While excavating this grave, Paul du Chatellier (1833-1911) discovered the gravestone, engraved in 1900, before it was forgotten for more than a century.
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“Let us not be led astray by imagination and leave it to a Champollion who may one day find us to read,” the archaeologist then wrote, alluding to Jean-François Champollion, known for deciphering hieroglyphs is .
Yvan Pailler and researcher Clément Nicolas have already carried out part of this decryption work since they found the plate in 2014 in a basement of the National Archeology Museum (MAN) in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a suburb of Paris.
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From the beginning, “there were a few symbols engraved that immediately made sense,” Mr. Pailler remembers.
To confirm their initial suspicion, the two researchers ran a 3D scan of this 7-by-5-foot block to compare it to current maps using a statistical method. The similarity of the plate with the current topography reaches 80%.
“We have identified the hydrographic network, the relief of the Black Mountains,” explains Clément Nicolas. “We still have to identify all the symbols of geometric shapes, the corresponding legend, the streets…” he continues.
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The most mysterious symbols are these numerous small cups, circular depressions with a diameter of 1 to 10 mm, with which the plate is pierced and which could represent hills, dwellings or even geological deposits.
We need to “survey the area” to “identify the locations shown on the map,” emphasizes Mr. Clément. A job that “will last a good fifteen years,” he says.
“Treasure Map”
“Trying to find archaeological sites based on the map is a great approach. We never work like that,” smiles Mr. Pailler. “It’s a treasure map.”
This step is carried out from the air or on foot and provides definitive evidence of the topographical character of the engravings. But also to date the map more precisely.
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“It is the dating of these sites that will give us a range for dating the engravings,” emphasizes Mr. Nicolas.
During the project this fall, excavators discovered a flint arrowhead in the tumulus of Saint-Bélec, “one of the largest Bronze Age tombs in Brittany,” said Mr. Pailler.
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They also unearthed five new engraved fragments from the slab, which had been broken before being reused as a tomb wall. This reuse may be a sign of a change of power at the end of the Early Bronze Age in Brittany.
As a land registry entry and sign of authority over a territory, the engraved plate represented an area 30 km long and 21 km wide and would be contemporary with small kingdoms in western France, whose decline would have sealed their fate. “The engraved map no longer had any meaning and was condemned to serve as building material,” suggests Mr. Nicolas.