WASHINGTON — John Hessler, mathematical wizard and the senior cartographic librarian at the Library of Congress, slipped into the locked underground vaults of the library one morning last week.
Earliest records show a spoon shaped compass made of lodestone or magnetite ore, referred to as a "South-pointer" dating back to sometime during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE).
Extra History on MSN
How Ancient Navigators Conquered the Pacific Without Maps
No compass. No map. Just the stars, waves, and centuries of memorized knowledge. The Austronesians crossed thousands of miles of open ocean—by design, not by chance ...
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