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.
Odrastajući u državi Mejn, jedna od omiljenih stvari, kao detetu, mi je bila da tražim školjke zvane "Peščani dolari" po obalama Mejna, zato što su mi roditelji rekli da će mi to doneti sreću. Ali, kao što znate, ove školjke se teško nalaze. Pokrivene su peskom. Teško se uočavaju. Međutim, ja sam se vremenom navikla na traženje. Počela sam da uviđam oblike i šare koje su mi pomagale da ih sakupljam.
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.
Ovo je preraslo u strast za pronalaženjem stvari, u ljubav prema prošlosti i arheologiji. I najzad, kada sam počela da studiram Egiptologiju, shvatila sam da posmatranje samo golim okom nije dovoljno. Zato što je sada odjednom u Egiptu moja mala plaža iz Mejna prerasla u plažu dugačku 1300 kilometara duž Nila, a moje školjke su prerasle u gradove. Ovo je zapravo ono što me je navelo na upotrebu posmatranja putem satelita. Jer pokušavajući da stvorim mapu prošlosti,
So I want to show you an example of how we see differently
znala sam da moram da promenim način posmatranja.
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.
Stoga želim da vam pokažem primer kako vidimo drugačije koristeći infracrvene zrake. Ovo je predeo u istočnoj egipatskoj delti zvani Bendiz. I predeo na pogled deluje da je braon boje, ali kad upotrebimo infracrvene zrake i obradimo ih, odjednom, upotrebom neprirodnih boja, predeo deluje da je jarko roze boje. Ono što vidite su postojeće hemijske promene u zemljištu prouzrokovane građevinskim materijalom i aktivnostima starih Egipćana.
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.
Ono što želim da danas podelim sa vama je to kako smo korišćenjem podataka prikupljenih satelitom pronašli antički egipatski grad, zvani Ičtavi, koji nije bio otkriven hiljadama godina. Ičtavi je bio glavni grad starog Egipta više od četiri stotine godina, u periodu zavnom srednje carstvo pre otprilike četiri hiljade godina. Ovo mesto se nalazi u predelu Egipta zvanom Fajum i ono je veoma važno zato što je u srednjem carstvu bio veliki preporod staroegipatske umetnosti, arhitekture i religije. Egiptolozi su oduvek znali da se Ičtavi nalazio negde blizu piramida dva faraona koja su ga izgradila, ovde označenim crvenim krugovima, ali negde unutar ove masivne plavne ravnice. Ova površina je ogromna; veličine je 6,4 puta 4,8 kilometara. Nil je nekada proticao tik pored grada Ičtavi, i kako se vremenom pomerao i menjao tok prema istoku, pokrio je grad.
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.
Dakle, kako pronaći zatrpani grad u ogromnom prostoru? Pronaći ga slučajno bi bilo isto kao pronalaženje igle u plastu sena vezanih očiju noseći rukavice za bejzbol.
(Laughter)
Stoga smo uradili sledeće.
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.
Iskoristili smo Nasine topografske podatke da bismo napravili mapu predela do veoma sitnih promena. Došli smo u stanje gde smo mogli da vidimo kuda je Nil nekada proticao. Ali vi možete još detaljnije videti, čak i još interesantnije, ovu blago izbočenu oblast koja je ovde zaokružena, za koju smo mislili da može biti lokacija grada Ičtavi.
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.
Potom smo u saradnji sa egipatskim naučnicima radili na iskopavanju jezgra, što ovde možete i videti. Kad kažem iskopavanje jezgra, to je slično kao kopanje leda, ali umesto slojeva klimatskih promena, traže se slojevi ljudskog zanimanja. I na dubini od pet metara, ispod debelog sloja blata, našli smo gust sloj grnčarstva. Ovo znači da na ovoj mogućoj lokaciji grada Ičtavi, pet metara ispod zemlje, imamo sloj ljudskog zanimanja dugog više stotina godina koje datira iz doba srednjeg carstva, odnosno tačnog vremenskog perioda iz kog mislimo da je Ičtavi. Takođe smo našli obrađeno kamenje, korneol, kvarc i ahat što pokazuje da je ovde bila juvelirska radionica. Ovo možda ne izgleda bitno, ali kada se pitate koje se kamenje najčešće koristilo kao nakit u srednjem carstvu, odgovor je ovo kamenje.
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.
Dakle, na ovoj lokaciji imamo gust sloj zanimanja koje datira iz doba srednjeg carstva. Takođe imamo dokaze o radionicama za elitni nakit što pokazuje da koji god da se grad ovde nalazio, bio je veoma značajan. Još uvek nema dokaza da je ovde bio grad Ičtavi, ali mi ćemo se uskoro vratiti na ovo mesto da bismo ga mapirali. I ono što je još važnije, imamo sredstva za obuku mladih egipćana za korišćenje satelitske tehnologije kako bi i oni takođe mogli da dođu do velikih otkrića.
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.
Želela bih da završim svojim omiljenim citatom iz srednjeg carstva koji je verovatno napisan u gradu Ičtavi pre četiri hiljade godina. "Deljenje znanja je najznačajnije od svih zanimanja. Ne postoji ništa poput toga na svetu." Dakle kako stvari stoje, TED nije osnovan 1984. godine nove ere.
(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.
Stvaranje ideja je zapravo počelo 1984. godine pre nove ere u ne tako dugo izgubljenom gradu pronađenom iz svemira. To svakako stavlja pronalaženje školjki na obali mora u perspektivu.
Thank you very much.
Hvala vam mnogo.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)