Genevieve von Petzinger: Why are these 32 symbols found in ancient caves all over Europe?
Genevieve von Petzinger: Mengapa 32 simbol ini ditemukan pada gua-gua purba di seluruh Eropa?
Genevieve von Petzinger studies the geometric signs found in early European Ice Age rock art sites. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
mengundang rasa penasaran Anda.
cliff that draws you in.
between light and dark,
antara cahaya dan kegelapan,
of earthy smells, of hushed silence.
dan kesunyian yang teredam.
dunia bawah tanah ini.
these underground worlds.
engravings and paintings,
pahatan dan lukisan misterius,
zig-zag ini di gua Ojo Guareña di Spanyol.
and zigzags from Ojo Guareña in Spain.
as these early artists.
yang dilalui seniman purbakala.
of skin boots on soft earth,
sepatu bot kulit pada tanah yang lunak,
around the next bend.
di sekitar tikungan di depan.
what drove these people to go so deep
masuk sangat dalam dan menantang bahaya
passageways to leave their mark?
demi meninggalkan tanda mereka?
or about a third of a mile, underground,
lukisan merah di langit-langit
of red paintings on a ceiling
section of the cave.
yang sebelumnya tak terjamah.
with the ceiling getting ever lower,
dan atap gua semakin rendah,
where the ceiling was so low
langit-langitnya begitu rendah
fotografer proyek,
and project photographer, Dylan,
on the ceiling with his DSLR camera.
pada langit-langit.
with a single light
merah itu dengan satu penerangan
persiapkan untuk tujuan itu.
that we kept for that type of occasion.
with a torch or a stone lamp?
dengan obor atau lampu batu?
jawab melalui penelitian saya.
I'm trying to answer with my research.
art in the world.
early artists in Europe,
di Eropa,
bukan hanya karena keindahannya,
because it's beautiful,
is the development of the modern mind,
perkembangan pemikiran modern,
of imagination, of abstract thought,
dan pikiran abstrak,
in one way or another,
satu sama lainnya,
taken it to another level.
begitu kompleks.
to share and collaborate
untuk berbagi dan berkolaborasi
jaringan global pertukaran informasi,
network of information exchange
oleh kemampuan kita berkomunikasi --
by our ability to communicate --
atau komunikasi tertulis.
or written forms of communication.
on the mental achievements
di atas pencapaian mental manusia
abilities haven't already existed.
kemampuan tertentu yang dulu belum ada.
I find most fascinating
bagi saya
secara mendalam.
of any giants to stand on.
dari siapa mereka bisa belajar.
of important inventions
yang penting dan mengejutkan
is the invention of graphic communication.
penemuan komunikasi grafis.
main types of communication,
so things like sign language --
seperti bahasa isyarat --
by their very nature ephemeral.
bersifat sementara.
agar pesan dapat dikirim dan diterima.
for a message to be sent and received.
komunikasi itu hilang selamanya.
of transmission, it's gone forever.
decouples that relationship.
meniadakan kontak itu.
it became possible for the first time
menjadi mungkin untuk pertama kalinya
untuk tersampaikan dan tetap ada
transmitted and preserved
dimana kita mulai menemukan simbol grafis,
regularly appearing
di situs terbuka yang masih terpelihara.
and even a few surviving open-air sites.
yang kita kenal sekarang.
by towering ice sheets,
yang dipenuhi pegunungan es,
and frozen tundra.
dan tundra yang beku.
have been found across the continent,
telah ditemukan di Eropa,
and even the occasional human
dan terkadang gambar manusia,
Grotta dell'Addaura di Sisilia ini.
from Grotta dell'Addaura in Sicily.
melihat pemandangan langka
of these early artists.
dari para seniman purbakala.
the majority of the study
dari Cullavera di Spanyol.
from Cullalvera in Spain,
dari La Pasiega.
from La Pasiega.
what we call geometric signs,
yang disebut simbol geometris inilah
mempelajari seni ini.
daripada gambar hewan dan manusia.
the animal and human images.
di tahun 2007 lalu,
of how many shapes there were,
jumlah simbol geometris yang ada,
simbol geometris yang sama
appeared across space or time.
di tempat dan waktu yang berbeda.
get started on my questions,
membuat basis data
dari semua situs seni batu.
from all of the rock art sites.
well documented at some sites,
dengan baik di beberapa situs,
with the very nice animals,
gambar hewan yang indah,
where it was very vague --
yang masih samar --
of description or detail.
selama 50 tahun atau lebih.
in half a century or more.
that I targeted for my field work.
untuk penelitian lapangan.
each spent over 300 hours underground,
menghabiskan 300 jam di bawah tanah,
around 52 sites
dan menggeliat di 52 situs
at 75 percent of the sites we visited.
yang belum terdokumentasikan
I knew I was going to need
those larger questions.
pertanyaan besar itu.
beberapa simbol outlier,
there are only 32 geometric signs.
30.000 tahun di seluruh benua Eropa.
and the entire continent of Europe.
doodles or decorations,
atau dekorasi,
lebih banyak variasi,
a lot more variation,
are the same signs
adalah simbol-simbol yang sama
yang berbeda.
before losing popularity and vanishing,
sebelum ketenarannya pudar dan hilang,
in use during that entire time period --
tetap digunakan selama periode tadi --
triangles, ovals and circles
oval, dan lingkaran
from the end of the Ice Age,
di ketinggian Pegunungan Pyreness.
high in the Pyrenees Mountains.
sejauh ribuan kilometer,
span thousands of kilometers,
restricted distribution patterns,
pola pesebaran terbatas,
to a single territory,
with these divided rectangles
di bagian Utara Spanyol,
adalah semacam simbol keluarga atau suku.
of family or clan signs.
of similarity in the earliest rock art
pada kesenian batu awal
to Indonesia and Australia.
hingga Indonesia dan Australia.
appearing in such far-flung places,
di tempat-tempat yang saling berjauhan,
30.000 hingga 40.000 tahun,
to 40,000-year range,
to a common point of origin in Africa.
merunut ke asal-muasal manusia di Afrika.
is a subject for a future talk.
di lain waktu.
were meaningful to their creators,
memiliki arti bagi penciptanya,
bas-relief sculptures
yang berusia 25.000 tahun ini
but the people of the time certainly did.
tapi manusia di zaman itu pasti mengerti.
for so long, and at so many sites
dalam waktu yang lama di banyak situs,
menciptakan karya bermakna.
were making intentional choices.
disetujui dan dipahami oleh satu budaya,
agreed-upon meanings,
sistem komunikasi grafis tertua di dunia.
of graphic communication in the world.
characters at this point
semua kata dalam bahasa lisan,
in the spoken language,
aksara yang utuh.
for a full writing system.
secara teratur
repeating regularly enough
simbol-simbol itu adalah abjad.
some sort of alphabet.
adalah beberapa contoh unik,
are some intriguing one-offs,
yang dikenal sebagai "Prasasti,"
known as "The Inscription,"
of hands in the middle,
like a bracket on the right.
di sebelah kanan.
communication in the world --
tertua di dunia --
dan huruf awal Cina,
the earliest Chinese script,
and 5,000 years ago,
4.000 dan 5.000 tahun yang lalu,
from an earlier protosystem
dari sistem proto yang lebih tua
dan gambar piktografi,
and pictographic representations,
and the image were the same.
sungguh bermakna burung.
have represented that animal.
these pictographs become more stylized,
piktografi ini mulai beragam,
more symbols being invented
simbol-simbol baru diciptakan
yang belum terwakili dalam bahasa --
missing words in language --
dan kata sifat.
the geometric signs from Ice Age Europe
simbol geometris dari Zaman Es Eropa
penanda hitungan,
were also making counting marks,
from Riparo di Za Minic in Sicily,
dari Riparo di Za Minic di Sisilia,
stylized representations
benda-benda di sekitar mereka.
persenjataan, atau rumah?
be weaponry or housing?
seperti konstelasi bintang?
like star constellations?
trees -- landscape features,
pohon -- rupa bumi,
dikelilingi simbol seperti lonceng ini
surrounded by strange bell-shaped signs
means "feather-shaped" in Latin,
"berbentuk kipas" dalam bahasa Latin,
a depiction of a plant or a tree?
sebuah tumbuhan atau pohon?
to ask these questions
simbol-simbol tertentu di beberapa situs,
to revisit this category as a whole.
untuk menelitinya secara keseluruhan.
setelah mengklasifikasi semua simbol ini
all of the signs into a single category,
will involve breaking it back apart
selanjutnya adalah mengurainya lagi
are identified and separated off.
of fully developed writing
didn't come out of a vacuum.
tidak muncul serta-merta.
on something much older,
yang lebih tua,
tens of thousands of years --
hingga puluhan ribu tahun sebelumnya --
of Ice Age Europe and far beyond,
dan jauh sebelum itu.
in our collective history,
mendapat gagasan membuat simbol grafis
of making a graphic mark,
of how we communicate.
cara kita berkomunikasi.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Genevieve von Petzinger - Paleoanthropologist and rock art researcherGenevieve von Petzinger studies the geometric signs found in early European Ice Age rock art sites.
Why you should listen
Genevieve von Petzinger is a Canadian paleoanthropologist and rock art researcher finishing up her doctorate at the University of Victoria. She studies some of the oldest art in the world -- Ice Age cave art created by early humans in Europe between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago.
Genevieve's specific focus is on the geometric signs found at many of these sites, and she's interested in how these images can help us to better understand human cognitive evolution as well as track ancient patterns of migration and explore the origins of symbolism and graphic communication. Her research has been featured both nationally and internationally in print, radio and television. In 2013, Genevieve was selected as a TED Senior Fellow.
Genevieve has a book about her latest research and this fascinating period in our human history coming out from Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., in May 2016.
Genevieve von Petzinger | Speaker | TED.com