Bronze Age rock becomes researchers' "treasure map"

LEUHAN, France: A piece of rock with mysterious markings that lay largely unstudied for 4,000 years is now being hailed as a "treasure map" for archaeologists who are using it to hunt for ancient sites around north-western France.

The so-called Saint-Belec slab was claimed as Europe's oldest map by researchers in 2021, and they have been working ever since to understand its etchings — both to help them date the slab and to rediscover lost monuments.