When I was a child growing up in Maine, one of my favorite things to do was to look for sand dollars on the seashores of Maine, because my parents told me it would bring me luck. But you know, these shells, they're hard to find. They're covered in sand, they're difficult to see. However, over time, I got used to looking for them. I started seeing shapes and patterns that helped me to collect them.
Ko sem odraščala v Mainu, je bila ena mojih najljubših stvari iskanje lupin morskih ježkov na obalah Maina. Starši so mi namreč rekli, da mi bodo prinesli srečo. Ampak te lupine je zelo težko najti. Pokriva jih pesek. Težko jih je opaziti. Sčasoma pa sem jih vedno lažje našla. Pozorna sem postala na oblike in vzorce, po katerih sem se pri iskanju orientirala.
This grew into a passion for finding things, a love for the past and archaeology. And eventually, when I started studying Egyptology, I realized that seeing with my naked eyes alone wasn't enough. Because all of the sudden, in Egypt, my beach had grown from a tiny beach in Maine to one eight hundred miles long, next to the Nile. And my sand dollars had grown to the size of cities. This is really what brought me to using satellite imagery. For trying to map the past, I knew that I had to see differently.
Ta igra je prerasla v strast po odkrivanju stvari, v ljubezen do preteklosti in arheologije. Ko sem začela študirati egiptologijo, sem spoznala, da iskanje le s pomočjo lastnih oči ne bo dovolj. V Egiptu je namreč moja obala iz majcene obale Maina zrastla v več kot tisoč kilometrov dolgo obalo ob Nilu in moje ježkove lupine so postale velike kot mesta. To je bil razlog, da sem pričela uporabljati satelitske posnetke. Vedela sem, da moram videti na drug način, če želim orisati preteklost.
So I want to show you an example of how we see differently using the infrared. This is a site located in the eastern Egyptian delta called Mendes. And the site visibly appears brown, but when we use the infrared and we process it, all of the sudden, using false color, the site appears as bright pink. What you are seeing are the actual chemical changes to the landscape caused by the building materials and activities of the ancient Egyptians.
Želim vam pokazati primer, kako lahko vidimo na drugačen način, z uporabo infrardeče svetlobe. To nahajališče je v zahodnem delu Egipčanske delte, imenuje se Bendix. Na sliki je področje videti rjavo, če pa uporabimo infrardečo svetlobo in sliko obdelamo, potem je iznenada, z umetnim obarvanjem, nahajališče videti kot svetlo roza. Kar vidite, so dejanske kemične spremembe v pokrajini, ki so jih povzročili grabdeni materiali in obrtne dejavnosti starodavnih Egipčanov.
What I want to share with you today is how we've used satellite data to find an ancient Egyptian city, called Itjtawy, missing for thousands of years. Itjtawy was ancient Egypt's capital for over four hundred years, at a period of time called the Middle Kingdom, about four thousand years ago. The site is located in the Faiyum of Egypt, and the site is really important, because in the Middle Kingdom there was this great renaissance for ancient Egyptian art, architecture and religion. Egyptologists have always known the site of Itjtawy was located somewhere near the pyramids of the two kings who built it, indicated within the red circles here, but somewhere within this massive flood plain. This area is huge -- it's four miles by three miles in size. The Nile used to flow right next to the city of Itjtawy, and as it shifted and changed and moved over time to the east, it covered over the city.
Danes vam želim predstaviti način, kako si s satelitskimi podatki pomagali pri iskanju starodavnega egipčanskega mesta, imenovanega Itjtawy, za katerega tisočletja nismo vedeli, kje leži. Itjtawy je bilo glavno mesto starodavnega Egipta več kot štiristo let, v obdobju, ki ga imenujemo Srednja država, pred približno štiri tisoč leti. Nahajališče leži v oazi Fajum v Egiptu in je pomembno, saj je bil v času Srednje države velik preporid starodavne egipčanske umetnosti, arhitekture in religije. Egiptologi so vedeli, da nahajališče Itjtawy leži nekje blizu piramid dveh kraljev, ki sta ga zgradila, označeno tukaj z rdečima krogoma, a nekje na tej velikanski poplavni ravnini. To področje je ogormno, velikost i štiri krat tri milje. Nil je nekoč tekel tik ob mestu Itjtawy. Ko se je struga skozi čas pomikala vedno bolj proti vzhodu, je prekrila mesto.
So, how do you find a buried city in a vast landscape? Finding it randomly would be the equivalent of locating a needle in a haystack, blindfolded, wearing baseball mitts.
Kako torej najti zakopano mesto na tako velikem področju? Če bi se iskanja lotili nenačrtno, bi bilo, kot da bi iskali iglo v kopici sena, s prevezo čez oči, v debelih rokavicah.
(Laughter)
Tako smo se poslužili Nasinih topografskih podatkov,
So what we did is we used NASA topography data to map out the landscape, very subtle changes. We started to be able to see where the Nile used to flow. But you can see in more detail, and even more interesting, this very slight raised area seen within the circle up here which we thought could possibly be the location of the city of Itjtawy.
da bi katrografirali področje in majhne razlike. Kmalu se nam je pred očmi zarisala struga, po kateri je nekoč tekel Nil. Še natančnejša analiza nam razkrije še nekaj bolj zanimivega. Rahlo dvignjeno območje, označuje ga tale krog, za katerega smo domnevali, da bi lahko bila lokacija mesta Itjtawy.
So we collaborated with Egyptian scientists to do coring work, which you see here. When I say coring, it's like ice coring, but instead of layers of climate change, you're looking for layers of human occupation. And, five meters down, underneath a thick layer of mud, we found a dense layer of pottery. What this shows is that at this possible location of Itjtawy, five meters down, we have a layer of occupation for several hundred years, dating to the Middle Kingdom, dating to the exact period of time we think Itjtawy is. We also found work stone -- carnelian, quartz and agate that shows that there was a jeweler's workshop here. These might not look like much, but when you think about the most common stones used in jewelry from the Middle Kingdom, these are the stones that were used.
S pomočjo egipčanskih znanstvenikov smo se tako lotili vrtanja izvrtin, kar lahko vidite na tej sliki. S tem imam v mislih izvrtine kot izvrtine v polarni led, a namesto plasti podnebnih sprememb iščemo dokaze o človeški poselitvi. Na globini petih metrov, pod debelim slojem blata, smo tako našli debelo plast lončenine. To prikazuje, da smo na tej možni lokaciji mesta Itjtawy, pet metrov globoko naleteli na plast, ki nakazuje na večstoletno poselitev, ki sega v čas Srednjega kraljestva in se sklada z obdobljem, v katerem naj bi obstajalo mesto Itjtawy. Našli smo tudi obdelane poldrage kamne, na primer karneol, kremenjak in ahtat, kar nakazuje, da so tukaj nekoč izdelovali nakit. Na prvi pogled to mogoče ni kaj veliko, a če pomislimo, katere kamne so najpogosteje uporabljali pri izdelovanju nakita v času Srednje države, so bili v uporabi prav ti kanmi.
So, we have a dense layer of occupation dating to the Middle Kingdom at this site. We also have evidence of an elite jeweler's workshop, showing that whatever was there was a very important city. No Itjtawy was here yet, but we're going to be returning to the site in the near future to map it out. And even more importantly, we have funding to train young Egyptians in the use of satellite technology so they can be the ones making great discoveries as well.
Imamo torej debelo plast, ki kaže na poselitev. ki sega v obdobje Srednje države na tem območju. Imamo tudi dokaze prestižni delavnici nakita, kar nakazuje, da je šlo za zelo pomembno mesto. Na tej stopnji še ne govorimo o mestu Itjtawy, a na to nahajališče se bomo še vračali v bljižni prihodnosti, da bi ga kartirali. še pomembnejše pa je, da imamo sredstva za izobraževanje mladih raziskovalcev iz Egipta o uporabi satelitske tehnologije, da jo bodo v prihodnje tudi sami uporabljali pri lovu na velika odkritja.
So I wanted to end with my favorite quote from the Middle Kingdom -- it was probably written at the city of Itjtawy four thousand years ago. "Sharing knowledge is the greatest of all callings. There's nothing like it in the land." So as it turns out, TED was not founded in 1984 AD.
Predstavitev želim zaključiti z meni najljubšim citatom iz časa Srednje države -- najbrž je napis krasil vhod v mesto Itytawy, štiri tisoč let nazaj. "Širjenje znanja je največje poslanstvo. Ničesar večjega ni v deželi." Vse kaže, da TED ni bil ustanovljen leta 1948 n. š.,
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Making ideas actually started in 1984 BC at a not-lost-for-long city, found from above. It certainly puts finding seashells by the seashore in perspective.
Širjenje idej se je pravzaprav začelo 1984 pr.n.št., v za-kratek-čas-izgubljenem mestu, ki smo ga odkrili. Vsekakor dokritje postavlja iskanje školjk na obali v drugačno luč.
Thank you very much.
Hvala za vašo pozornost.
(Applause)
(Aplavz)
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplavz)