# Evidence for Cognitive Spatial Models from Ancient Roman Land-Measurement

## TL;DR

Ancient Roman land-measurement records suggest people had complex spatial mental models, challenging old views of their cognitive abilities.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence that ancient Romans used survey-type spatial models alongside route-based ones.

## Key findings

- Verbal land descriptions show features of survey-type spatial models.
- Route-based and survey-based representations were integrated in Roman land-measurement.
- This challenges the idea that ancient Mediterranean people lacked allocentric spatial cognition.

## Abstract

Influential studies in the history of cartography have argued that map-like representations of space were (virtually) unknown in the Classical Mediterranean world and that the cause of this was an absence of underlying cognitive maps. That is, persons in that time/place purportedly had only route/egocentric-type mental representations, not survey/allocentric ones. The present study challenges that cognitive claim by examining the verbal descriptions of plots of land produced by ancient Roman land-measurers. Despite the prescription of a route-based form, actual representations persistently show a variety of features which suggest the existence of underlying survey-type mental models and the integration of those with the route-type ones. This fits better with current views on interaction between types of spatial representation and of cultural difference in this area. The evidence also suggests a linkage between the two kinds of representations.