EuroSpeleo 2016
The oldest artificial cave map
Oral|Mr Bernard Chirol
Abstract
The first drawing of an artificial cave with orientation information is the plan of the Labyrinth of Gortyne (Crete) drawn in 1415 by Cristoforo Buondelmonti. Until today, it was considered that the map of the artificial cave "Stufe di Nerone" situated at Pozzuoli near Naples and published by Georg Bauer (Agricola) in 1546 was the most ancient (T. Shaw, History of cave science, 1992, p. 13). The Labyrinth of Gortyne drawing is a sort of bird's eye view, with orientation (almost usual one). It was published in 1417 (C. Buondelmonti, Descriptio insulae Cretae, 1417). I found this "map" on Internet (see the numerous references joined in the article about Buondelmonti) when doing a research about Anna Petrochilou who studied it in 1984-1985 (topography). Michel Fournier has given a lot of e-documents about the mysteries of this site. My colleagues of the UIS History Commission confirm the novelty of this ascertainment.
For the moment, the oldest natural cave map is that of Santa Rosalia in Sicilia (1627).
More from 2016
Oral|Mr . Wookey
What's new in Survex
Oral|Mr Madphil Rowsell
Recent discoveries in Sanwang Dong, China
Workshop|Mr Duncan Simey
Surveyor's Get Together
Oral|Mrs Sharon Rosser
Project-based Serious Leisure in Adventure Sports: Older adult male cavers and positive adjustments to health related adversity – a small case study.
Film|Mr A & A Freem
Caver's Cinema - Thursday
Oral|Ms Xiumin Zhai
Amplitude and pacing of abrupt climate change: derived from Asian stalagmite records spanning the last 70ka
Film|Mr James Newton
CINEMA: India or Bust: A Caving Trip by Double-Decker Bus
Oral|Miss Catherine Moody
Diving Deep in Durmitor, Montenegro
Oral|Mr Michael Laumanns
Middle East A reminiscence of 4 expeditions to Iran and Iraq between 2000 and 2007 (M. Laumanns, Speleoclub Berlin)
Oral|Ms Antoniya Vlaykova
Hidden wonders of the underground world