Those of you who are avid treasure hunters are probably all well familiar with maps which are completely undecipherable. Even older maps which were intended to be accurate portrayals of topography can be almost humorously inaccurate. The existence of a map dating from the middle ages, then, that could be used to correct errors in modern maps created as late as the 1950s would be nothing less than astonishing. But it does exist.

The map was drawn by Piri Reis in 1513. It shows detailed and pointedly accurate outlines of Eastern North and South America, and Western Africa, an absolutely amazing accomplishment in that era, but that is not the real show stopper about this map. It also shows a completely accurate detailed outline of the Northern Antarctic Coast as it exists without the ice cap. This is not just amazing, it is impossible by any technique we know of to have existed in the known technology of civilization until our present abilities. There are two issues that even further complicate this mystery.

The first complication is that Antarctica had not been discovered yet in 1513. The fact that Piri Reis had stated himself that he had used other maps from other resources available to sailors in his era, some dating back to the days of Alexander the Great, does nothing but compound the mystery. That only means that this information was compiled at an even earlier date. Where could this information have come from? While completely baffling, it is only the