Early Chinese Cartography - Qin State Maps

Qin State Maps

In 1986, seven maps were found in Tomb 1, dating to the Qin State of the Warring States period, at Fangmatan in Gansu province. The maps are drawn in black ink on four rectangular pieces of pine wood, 26.7 cm in length and between 15 and 18.1 cm in width, and depict the tributary river systems of the Jialing River in modern Sichuan province. The areas covered by the seven maps overlap, but in total they cover 107 × 68 km in area.

In addition to the seven maps on wooden blocks found at Tomb 1 of Fangmatan, a fragment of a paper map (5.6 × 2.6 cm) was found on the chest of the occupant of Tomb 5 of Fangmatan in 1986. This tomb is dated to the early Western Han, so the map dates to the early 2nd century BCE. The map shows topographic features such as mountains, waterways and roads, and is thought to cover the area of the preceding Qin Kingdom.