Ancient Map Shows Antarctica Coastline Without Ice

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The Piri Reis world map, 1513. Artist: Piri Reis (1470-1553) (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

 A medieval-era map, discovered in a Turkish palace in 1929, is dated 1513, yet it shows a knowledge of faraway lands well beyond the areas European explorers had traveled and even shows land features Europeans couldn’t possibly of known about in 1513…like the Andes Mountains of South America and the coastline of the Antarctic under the ice. The map, drawn on a piece of gazelle skin, was said to be the work of Piri Reis, a cartographer and admiral in the Turkish army. The amazing accuracy of the Piri Reis map has scholars scratching their heads. Is the map proof of an ancient, yet advanced, seafaring civilization?