For those of us who use map-making as a story-writing tool, the subject has made me wonder about map-making in general. How maps came about; that sort of thing.

In my personal research, I see no definitive answer for a simple question; how old is the oldest map on earth? After all, someone had to draw a conclusion that the world had very easy descriptions and therefore, instead of drawing animals, he started drawing the landscape that they exist. Of course, measuring tools took a lot of prototyping but at least, they were able to show a map of the world they lived in to the best of their abilities.

Using this knowledge, . . .
I have recently undergone a personal project about just that. A story series in which modern man and several created races are placed onto a brand new world without firearms and modern technology. While the other races exhibited early Dark Age tech, the humans try to be Industrial Age but failing miserably and therefore, continuing to downgrade to the same level as the other races.

As an opinion thread, if you were placed on this brand new world with your current knowledge base, how would you map your region you landed in?