Genevieve von Petzinger: Why are these 32 symbols found in ancient caves all over Europe?
Genevieve von Petzinger: Prečo nachádzame týchto 32 symbolov v jaskyniach po celej Európe?
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.
cliff that draws you in.
čo vás vtiahne dnu.
between light and dark,
of earthy smells, of hushed silence.
these underground worlds.
aj pravekí ľudia.
tajomné rytiny a maľby,
engravings and paintings,
and zigzags from Ojo Guareña in Spain.
a cik-caky zo španielskeho Ojo Guareña.
as these early artists.
ako títo dávni umelci.
ako z iného sveta,
dávnych kožených topánok na mäkkú zem
of skin boots on soft earth,
around the next bend.
že za najbližším ohybom bliká fakľa.
what drove these people to go so deep
čo týchto ľudí viedlo tak hlboko
passageways to leave their mark?
aby tam zanechali svoju stopu?
or about a third of a mile, underground,
pod zemou
of red paintings on a ceiling
červených stropných malieb,
section of the cave.
with the ceiling getting ever lower,
stále sa zužujúcim tunelom,
where the ceiling was so low
and project photographer, Dylan,
on the ceiling with his DSLR camera.
na strop vôbec zaostriť.
with a single light
that we kept for that type of occasion.
ktorý sme pre taký prípad mali v zálohe.
with a torch or a stone lamp?
s fakľou alebo kamennou lampou?
sa zameriava môj výskum.
I'm trying to answer with my research.
art in the world.
umeleckým dielam sveta.
early artists in Europe,
len pre ich krásu,
because it's beautiful,
is the development of the modern mind,
of imagination, of abstract thought,
abstraktného myslenia,
in one way or another,
taken it to another level.
na vyššiu úroveň.
to share and collaborate
zdieľať a spolupracovať
pod náš úspech.
network of information exchange
na globálnej sieti výmeny informácií,
by our ability to communicate --
naša schopnosť komunikovať –
or written forms of communication.
graficky a písmom.
on the mental achievements
ktorí tu boli pred nami,
abilities haven't already existed.
že určité schopnosti sme nemali vždy.
I find most fascinating
pri štúdiu dávnej minulosti.
of any giants to stand on.
na ramená žiadnych obrov.
of important inventions
prekvapivo veľa dôležitých vynálezov,
is the invention of graphic communication.
o vynáleze grafickej komunikácie.
main types of communication,
so things like sign language --
by their very nature ephemeral.
for a message to be sent and received.
vyžadujú blízky kontakt.
of transmission, it's gone forever.
decouples that relationship.
tá tento vzťah oddeľuje.
it became possible for the first time
transmitted and preserved
v čase a priestore.
regularly appearing
pravidelne sa objavovať v jaskyniach,
and even a few surviving open-air sites.
zachovaných monumentoch pod holým nebom.
by towering ice sheets,
and frozen tundra.
a zamrznutá tundra.
sa po celom kontinente našlo
have been found across the continent,
skalného umenia z doby ľadovej,
and even the occasional human
abstraktnými tvarmi a občas i s ľuďmi,
from Grotta dell'Addaura in Sicily.
z jaskyne Addaura na Sicílii.
of these early artists.
týchto raných umelcov.
zameriavali na zvieratá,
the majority of the study
from Cullalvera in Spain,
zo španielskej Cullalvery
from La Pasiega.
z jaskyne La Pasiega.
what we call geometric signs,
abstraktné tvary zvané geometrické znaky.
the animal and human images.
obrazmi zvierat a ľudí.
of how many shapes there were,
koľko tvarov sa kde našlo,
rovnaké tvary opakujú v čase či priestore.
appeared across space or time.
get started on my questions,
so svojím výskumom,
from all of the rock art sites.
zo všetkých lokalít skalného umenia.
well documented at some sites,
– hlavne z tých s peknými zvieratami –
with the very nice animals,
where it was very vague --
bola len veľmi vágna;
of description or detail.
in half a century or more.
už pol storočia alebo dlhšie.
that I targeted for my field work.
s mojím verným manželom Dylanom
each spent over 300 hours underground,
around 52 sites
po 52 lokalitách
Portugalsku a na Sicílii.
at 75 percent of the sites we visited.
na 75 % z týchto lokalít.
I knew I was going to need
budem potrebovať,
those larger questions.
there are only 32 geometric signs.
tak máme iba 32 geometrických znakov.
a na celý európsky kontinent.
and the entire continent of Europe.
doodles or decorations,
čmáranice či ozdoby,
a lot more variation,
are the same signs
before losing popularity and vanishing,
a časom stratia na obľúbenosti a miznú,
in use during that entire time period --
triangles, ovals and circles
trojuholníky, ovály a kruhy,
from the end of the Ice Age,
high in the Pyrenees Mountains.
vysoko v Pyrenejách.
span thousands of kilometers,
prekonávajú tisícky kilometrov,
restricted distribution patterns,
to a single territory,
len na jedinom území.
with these divided rectangles
nachádzame len na severe Španielska;
o nejaké rodinné či klanové znaky.
of family or clan signs.
z Francúzska či Španielska
of similarity in the earliest rock art
to Indonesia and Australia.
z Indonézie a Austrálie.
appearing in such far-flung places,
na veľmi vzdialených lokalitách,
to 40,000-year range,
posledných 30 až 40-tisíc rokov.
to a common point of origin in Africa.
is a subject for a future talk.
ďalšiu vedeckú diskusiu.
were meaningful to their creators,
niesli pre svojich tvorcov určitý význam,
bas-relief sculptures
z La Roque de Venasque vo Francúzsku.
but the people of the time certainly did.
ale vtedajší ľudia im isto rozumeli.
for so long, and at so many sites
v takom dlhom období a na toľkých miestach
were making intentional choices.
agreed-upon meanings,
of graphic communication in the world.
grafickej komunikácie na svete.
characters at this point
in the spoken language,
všetky slová hovorenej reči,
for a full writing system.
repeating regularly enough
dosť pravidelne na to,
some sort of alphabet.
nejaký druh abecedy.
are some intriguing one-offs,
known as "The Inscription,"
známy ako "Nápis"
of hands in the middle,
like a bracket on the right.
zátvorku, napravo.
communication in the world --
grafickej komunikácie na svete –
the earliest Chinese script,
egyptské hieroglyfy, rané čínske písmo –
and 5,000 years ago,
pred 4- až 5-tisíc rokmi
from an earlier protosystem
z nejakého staršieho protosystému,
and pictographic representations,
and the image were the same.
have represented that animal.
by naozaj reprezentoval toto zviera.
these pictographs become more stylized,
začínajú štylizovať,
more symbols being invented
missing words in language --
sa zdá veľmi nepravdepodobné,
the geometric signs from Ice Age Europe
z európskej doby ľadovej
were also making counting marks,
počtové značky,
from Riparo di Za Minic in Sicily,
z Riparo di Za Minic na Sicílii,
stylized representations
vecí, ktoré ich obklopovali.
be weaponry or housing?
predstavovať zbrane alebo obydlia?
like star constellations?
trees -- landscape features,
krajinné prvky,
surrounded by strange bell-shaped signs
obklopený zvláštnymi zvonovitými znakmi
means "feather-shaped" in Latin,
po latinsky „tvaru pierka“,
a depiction of a plant or a tree?
o znázornenie rastliny alebo stromu?
to ask these questions
pýtať takéto otázky
na niektorých lokalitách,
to revisit this category as a whole.
na revidovanie tejto kategórie ako celku.
starostlivo klasifikovala tieto znaky
all of the signs into a single category,
will involve breaking it back apart
zas rozdeliť do rôznych typov.
are identified and separated off.
of fully developed writing
didn't come out of a vacuum.
nevznikli z ničoho nič.
on something much older,
tens of thousands of years --
desiatky tisíc rokov do minulosti;
of Ice Age Europe and far beyond,
európskej doby ľadovej a oveľa ďalej,
in our collective history,
hlboko v našej kolektívnej minulosti,
of making a graphic mark,
urobiť grafickú značku
of how we communicate.
povahu našej komunikácie.
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