What are ancient maps?

Ancient maps are like drawings that show where places are, just like your toy map shows where your favorite toys live.

Imagine you have a big box full of toys, some cars, some blocks, and maybe even a dinosaur. If someone asked you, "Where is the dinosaur?" without looking, you might say, "It's in the back of the box." But if you drew a picture showing all the toys and where they are, that would be like an ancient map, it helps people find things more easily.

Ancient maps were made by people who wanted to remember or show others how far away different places were. Sometimes they looked at the sky or used stones to help them draw these maps on paper or even on clay! These maps didn’t always look like today’s maps, they might have had pictures of animals or people instead of lines and shapes.

People used ancient maps when traveling, just like you use a map app on your phone. But back then, it was all hand-drawn and based on what the person could see or imagine. It's like drawing a treasure map, not perfect, but super helpful!