Oldest Map in the World Relocated In Basement of a Defunct Museum

The world's oldest known map, which has been missing for years but has not been missed, was relocated yesterday in the basement of the Center for International Affairs by a Harvard sophomore.

The map, a two-inch square of red clay about 4500 years old, used to be in the Semitic Museum, which stood on the site of the International Affairs Center until the late 1950's, when the Museum was disbanded. At that time, the map was transferred to the basement, and everyone just forgot about it.

Frank Trout, Curator of Maps for the University Library, found an old report of a 1931 archeological expedition which said this map had been discovered and would soon be placed in the Semitic Museum at Harvard. Trout had never heard of the Semitic Museum, but he investigated and found out where it stood.

He sent a student on an expedition to recover the map, which was found sitting in a glass case in a basement classroom. The student made the discovery while a class was in session.

The map was discovered the first time around in the Mesopotamian city of Ga-Sur, about 200 miles north of Babylon.

Euphrates?

It is believed to describe a section of northwest Mesopotamia, presently in North Syria. There are mountain ranges discernable on both sides, and a road or a river--possibly the Euphrates--running through the center.

Other fine objects from the same 1931 expedition were "found" in the same glass case: a bronze sun-disk, a bronze bell shaped like a football, and a collection of archaic seals and beads.