Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:Researchers scoured previously classified Japanese military maps that accurately represent a lost Silk Road route. The research team confirmed the pinpoint accuracy of the cartography of roughly 750 miles with field research. The Great Mongolian Road was once a pivotal east-west Silk Road route across the Gobi Desert (a camel caravan mainstay over 100 years ago), but the route had long been lost to time. Now, a secret set of century-old Japanese military maps has revealed the route once more—and in striking detail. This gaihōzu represents the first detailed account of a lesser-known section of the Silk Road.