More map controls
Map layers
Top five layer manager
The five controlled layers draw in this order, bottom to top. Move a layer up or down and adjust its opacity independently.
Terrain initializing…
High-resolution Esri imagery and hillshade, independent of ESA land-cover classes. Modern reference only.
Blending affects the modern tiled relief map only; it never changes scientific land-cover classes.
Modern classification from ESA WorldCover 2021. The palette is ours; the class evidence is not. For historical dates, this layer remains a labeled modern reference rather than an invented reconstruction.
Turn on to request the ESA WorldCover 2021 public WMS image.
ESA 2021 land-cover classes🟩 Trees🟨 Shrubs / grasslands🟪 Cropland🟥 Built-up⬜ Bare / sparse❄️ Snow / ice🟦 Permanent water🟢 Wetland / mangroves◻️ Moss / lichen
Modern 2021 classification, not historical vegetation. Semiarid climate is not a WorldCover class. © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium. Terrain is transformed into the selected world projection with the other layers. This is modern satellite terrain texture, not a reconstructed historical elevation model.
Natural Earth 1:50m physical data; modern courses only. Ancient water features require separately sourced, dated geometry.
Early Mesopotamian language evidence
Loading written evidence…
Loading prehistoric archaeological entries…
Loading geographic site anchors…
Map appearance
Forests, grasslands, farmland, deserts and semi-arid zones need real land-cover data before their geographic boundaries can be shown accurately.
Opacity blends terrain with the clean map. These color styles are visual treatments, not land-cover classifications.
Map projection and detail
On phones, the map appears above these controls. For detailed relief, pinch to zoom or use +/−; for Robinson and other world projections, turn detailed relief off.
Default: tiled elevation hillshade. The coarse global raster is disabled until manually selected in historical projection mode. Switches to a Web Mercator map with zoom-dependent Esri hillshade and optional ESA WorldCover vegetation. Robinson and other historical projections remain available when this is off. Modern relief and vegetation are not historical reconstructions.
World projection applies to terrain, coastlines, rivers, lakes and points together. Polar areas remain visible. Zoom magnifies the same projection rather than switching to Mercator.
If automatic terrain loading is blocked by your browser, import a geographic full-world raster (2:1 width/height). Its pixels will be reprojected locally, with no upload.
Unlock projection
The world is rotated on the globe before applying Robinson or Eckert IV. Equator and continents shift together; dragging does not move a flat image.
Historical landscape
Loading environmental research records…
Dated landscape changes — research index
Satellite and research dates are documented; historical water and shoreline geometry is not yet reconstructed. Modern imagery stays modern.
Loading landscape research references…
Environmental evidence inspection
Uncertainty margins indicate possible temporal overlap, not proven environmental conditions. Site uncertainty circles represent location allowances, not ancient lake, forest, or vegetation boundaries.
No scientific records loaded.
No files are uploaded. Unreviewed scientific locations must not be promoted to reconstructed areas.
No historical geographic records loaded. Import GeoJSON features with a source URL and dated valid_from / valid_to properties.
Select Historical evidence to inspect available research layers. Unmapped years will not be guessed.
Save, export and print
Save year, layers, projection, appearance, map view and source references in a reusable project file. Imported research geometry must be loaded separately; it is not silently embedded or redistributed.
For classroom use. Map features use Natural Earth-derived 1:50m world-atlas geometry and are generalized, not survey grade. Data needs internet access.