I have stated elsewhere the AE maps and stele I've seen are all done in "elevated 3D panorama". I feel this is the way they perceived their world when thinking of broad sweeping scope. As if they had climbed a tall mountain to look over northern Egypt, etc.

The tomb of Qin is the earliest example of an aerial look down view map I can find (constructed as if a bird in flight was looking down, or a dead Emperor was watching from Heaven).

(3rd panel down) [china.org.cn]

But that doesn't mean I'm not missing something. Can anyone link an earlier one?

Would anyone care to discuss the leap of imagination and concept necessary to go from elevated 3D panorama to aerial look down views?

I think this topic belongs here because of so many hypothesis driving around a look down view to begin with.

Jammer