prize7-1, Exercise 2: A plan to test an "oldest map" claim

Model answer (claim: the Catalhoyuk wall painting is the oldest map; check the details):

Question: is the painting a map at all, and how old is it?

Evidence to look for:
1. The excavation reports: where the painting was found, how it was dated, and by which method.
2. The scholarly argument: papers that support the reading as a plan of the town with a volcano, and papers that dispute it.
3. What the painting shows, compared with other wall paintings from the site, which might be patterns or scenes.
4. Whether other cultures' early maps share features with it, such as a plan view and labelled places.

Where: excavation publications, journals in archaeology and the history of cartography, the multivolume History of Cartography.

Likely result: the dating is firm, but the interpretation as a map is disputed, so the painting should be called "possibly the oldest map", not "the oldest map".