These simple instruments were made from a lodestone—a naturally ... the needle on your compass should still be able to register Earth’s magnetic field and point you toward that spot in Canada.

Earliest records show a spoon shaped compass made of lodestone or magnetite ore ... Ancient Chinese alchemists realized that the magnetite ore would point towards a magnetic north. Their understanding ...

The first known compass appeared in the 4th century B.C., though not as a navigational device. Chinese fortune tellers used a natural magnetic ore known as a lodestone to align the environment ...