TEDGlobal 2007
Zeresenay Alemseged: The search for humanity's roots
Zeresenay Alemseged leder efter menneskehedens rødder
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Palæoantropolog Zeresenay Alemseged leder efter menneskehedens rødder i Etiopiens ufrugtbare landområder. Her taler han om at finde det ældste skelet af et menneskelignende barn -- og hvordan Afrika har sporene til vores menneskehed.
Zeresenay Alemseged - Paleoanthropologist
Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged digs in the Ethiopian desert, looking for the earliest signs of humanity. His most exciting find: the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old hominid child, from the species Australopithecus afarensis. Full bio
Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged digs in the Ethiopian desert, looking for the earliest signs of humanity. His most exciting find: the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old hominid child, from the species Australopithecus afarensis. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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I have 18 minutes to tell you what happened
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Jeg har 18 minutter til at fortælle hvad der skete
00:27
over the past six million years.
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i løbet af de sidste seks millioner år.
00:30
All right.
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Okay.
00:32
We all have come from a long way,
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Vi er alle kommet langvejs fra,
00:35
here in Africa, and converged in this region of Africa,
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her i Afrika, og er samledes i denne region i Afrika,
00:38
which is a place where 90 percent of our evolutionary process took place.
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hvilket er et sted hvor 90 procent af vores evolutionære proces fandt sted.
00:44
And I say that not because I am African,
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Og det siger jeg ikke fordi jeg er afrikaner,
00:47
but it's in Africa that you find the earliest evidence
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men fordi man i Afrika finder det tidligste bevis
00:50
for human ancestors, upright walking traces,
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på menneskelige forfædre, oprejst gående spor,
00:55
even the first technologies in the form of stone tools.
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selv de første teknologier i form af stenredskaber.
00:58
So we all are Africans, and welcome home.
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Så vi er alle afrikanere, og velkommen hjem.
01:01
All right.
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Okay.
01:03
I'm a paleoanthropologist, and my job is to define
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Jeg er palæoantropolog og mit job er at definere
01:06
man's place in nature and explore what makes us human.
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menneskets plads i naturen og udforske hvad der gør os menneskelige.
01:10
And today, I will use Selam, the earliest child ever discovered,
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Og i dag, vil jeg bruge Selam, det tidligste barn nogensinde fundet,
01:14
to tell you a story of all of us.
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til at fortælle en historie om os alle.
01:16
Selam is our most complete skeleton of a three-year-old girl
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Selam er vores mest komplette skelet af en tre-årig pige
01:20
who lived and died 3.3 million years ago.
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der levede og døde for 3.3 millioner år siden.
01:24
She belongs to the species known as Australopithecus afarensis.
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Hun hører til en art kendt som Australopithecus afarensis.
01:28
You don't need to remember that.
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Det behøver I ikke at huske.
01:30
That's the Lucy species, and was found by my research team
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Det er Lucy arten, og blev fundet af mit forskningsteam
01:34
in December of 2000 in an area called Dikika.
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i December 2000, i et område der hedder Dikika.
01:37
It's in the northeastern part of Ethiopia.
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Det er den nordøstlige del af Etiopien.
01:39
And Selam means peace in many Ethiopian languages.
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Og Selam betyder fred på mange Etiopiske sprog.
01:42
We use that name to celebrate peace in the region and in the planet.
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Vi bruger det navn for at fejre fred i regionen og på planeten.
01:48
And the fact that it was the cover story of all these famous magazines
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Og det faktum at det var en forside historie af alle disse kendte magasiner
01:52
gives you already an idea of her significance, I think.
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giver en allerede en ide om hendes vigtighed, tror jeg.
01:55
After I was invited by TED, I did some digging,
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Efter jeg blev inviteret af TED, gravede jeg lidt,
01:58
because that's what we do, to know about my host.
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fordi det er det vi gør, for at vide mere om min vært.
02:01
You don't just jump into an invitation.
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Man hopper ikke bare ned i en invitation.
02:03
And I learned that the first technology appeared
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Og jeg lærte at den første teknologi opstod
02:05
in the form of stone tools, 2.6 million years ago.
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i form af stenredskaber for 2.6 millioner år siden.
02:08
First entertainment comes evidence from flutes that are 35,000 years old.
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Den første underholdning kommer fra beviser af fløjter der er 35.000 år gamle.
02:13
And evidence for first design comes 75,000 years old -- beads.
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Og beviser på det første design er 75.000 år gammelt - perler.
02:19
And you can do the same with your genes and track them back in time.
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Og man kan gøre det samme med ens gener, og spore dem tilbage i tiden.
02:24
And DNA analysis of living humans and chimpanzees
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Og så, analysen af levende mennesker og chimpanser
02:28
teaches us today that we diverged sometime around seven million years ago
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lærer os i dag at vi spredte os for cirka syv millioner år siden
02:32
and that these two species share over 98 percent of the same genetic material.
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og at disse to arter deler mere end 98 procent af deres genetiske materiale.
02:38
I think knowing this is a very useful context
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Jeg mener at vide dette er en meget nyttig sammenhæng
02:40
within which we can think of our ancestry.
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hvori vi kan tænke på vores forfædre.
02:44
However, DNA analysis informs us only about
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Men, så informerer analysen os kun om
02:48
the beginning and the end, telling us nothing
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begyndelsen og slutningen, og fortæller os ingenting
02:52
about what happened in the middle.
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om hvad der skete i mellemtiden.
02:54
So, for us, paleoanthropologists, our job is to find the hard evidence,
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Så, for os, palæoantropologer, er vores job at finde de hårde beviser,
02:59
the fossil evidence, to fill in this gap
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de fossile beviser, til at udfylde dette hul
03:02
and see the different stages of development.
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og se de forskellige stadier af udviklingen.
03:05
Because it's only when you do that, that you can talk about --
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Fordi det er først når man gør det, at man kan tale om --
03:08
(Laughter) --
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(Latter) --
03:12
it's only when you do that, [that] you can talk about
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det er først når man gør det, [at] man kan tale om
03:15
how we looked like and how we behaved at different times,
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hvordan vi så ud og hvordan vi opførte os på forskellige tidspunkter,
03:19
and how those likes and looks and behaviors changed through time.
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og hvordan de udseender og adfærd ændrede sig med tiden.
03:24
That then gives you an access
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Det giver en adgang
03:26
to explore the biological mechanisms
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til at udforske de biologiske mekanismer
03:29
and forces that are responsible for this gradual change
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og kræfter der er ansvarlige for denne gradvise forandring
03:32
that made us what we are today.
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der gjorde os til dem vi er i dag.
03:35
But finding the hard evidence is a very complicated endeavor.
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Men at finde hårde beviser er en meget kompliceret opgave.
03:39
It's a systematic and scientific approach,
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Det er en systematisk og videnskabelig tilgang,
03:42
which takes you to places that are remote, hot, hostile and often with no access.
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som tager en til steder der er øde, varme, fjendtlige og tit uden adgang.
03:48
Just to give you an example, when I went to Dikika,
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Bare for at give jer et eksempel, da jeg tog til Dikika,
03:50
where Selam was found, in '99 -- and it's about 500 kilometers
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hvor Selam blev fundet, i '99 -- og det er cirka 500 kilometer
03:54
from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
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fra Addis Ababa, hovedstaden i Etiopien.
03:58
It took us only seven hours to do the first 470 kilometers of the 500,
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Det tog os kun syv timer at tilbagelægge de første 470 kilometer af de 500,
04:05
but took four, solid hours to do the last only 30 kilometers.
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men tog fire, lange timer om kun at tilbagelægge de sidste 30 kilometer.
04:10
With the help of the locals and using just shovels and picks, I made my way.
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Men hjælpen af de lokale og ved at bruge skovle og hakker, kom jeg frem.
04:14
I was the first person to actually drive a car to the spot.
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Jeg var den første person til faktisk at køre en bil til stedet.
04:18
When you get there, this is what you see,
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Når man ankommer der, er dette hvad man ser,
04:21
and it's the vastness of the place which makes you feel helpless and vulnerable.
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og det er stedet storhed der får en til at føle sig hjælpeløs og sårbar.
04:26
And once you make it there, the big question is where to start.
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Og når man ankommer der, er det større spørgsmål hvor man skal begynde.
04:30
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
04:32
And you find nothing for years and years.
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Og man finder ikke noget i år og år.
04:35
When I go to places like this, which are paleontological sites,
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Når jeg tager steder hen som dette, hvilket er palæontologiske steder,
04:39
it's like going to a game park, an extinct game park.
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er det ligesom at tage til en forlystelsespark, en uddød forlystelsespark.
04:43
But what you find are not the human remains,
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Men det man finder er ikke menneskelige efterladenskaber,
04:46
such as Selam and Lucy, on a day-to-day basis.
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såsom Selam og Lucy, på daglig basis.
04:49
You find elephants, rhinos, monkeys, pigs, etc.
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Man finder elefanter, næsehorn, aber, grise, osv.
04:53
But you could ask, how could these large mammals
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Men man kunne spørge, hvordan kunne disse store pattedyr
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live in this desert environment?
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leve i dette ørken landskab?
04:57
Of course, they cannot, but I'm telling you already
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Det kan de, selvfølgelig, ikke, men jeg siger allerede nu
04:59
that the environment and the carrying capacity
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at de landskab og bæreevnen
05:02
of this region was drastically different from what we have today.
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i denne region var drastisk anderledes i forhold til det vi har i dag.
05:07
A very important environmental lesson could be learned from this.
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En meget vigtig miljømæssig lektion kunne læres af dette.
05:11
Anyway, once we made it there, then it's a game park, as I said, an extinct game park.
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Uanset hvad, da vi kom der, er det en forlystelsespark, som jeg sagde, en forlystelsespark.
05:17
And our ancestors lived in that game park,
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Og vores forfædre levede i den forlystelsespark,
05:20
but were just the minorities. They were not as successful
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men var kun minoriteterne. De var ikke så succesfulde
05:22
and as widespread as the Homo sapiens that we are.
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og så udbredte som de Homo sapiens som vi er.
05:27
To tell you just an example, an anecdote about their rarity,
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For bare at give jer et eksempel, en anekdote om deres sjældenhed,
05:30
I was going to this place every year and would do fieldwork here,
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Jeg tog hen til dette sted hvert år og lavede feltarbejde der,
05:35
and the assistants, of course, helped me do the surveys.
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og assistenterne hjalp, selvfølgelig, med at lave opmålingerne.
05:38
They would find a bone and tell me, "Here is what you're looking for."
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De ville finde en knogle og fortælle mig, "Her er det du er på udkig efter."
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I would say, "No, that's an elephant."
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Jeg ville sige, "Nej, det er en elefant."
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Again, another one, "That's a monkey." "That's a pig," etc.
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Igen, en anden, "Det er en abe." "Det er en gris," osv.
05:44
So one of my assistants, who never went to school, said to me, "Listen, Zeray.
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Så en af mine assistenter, der aldrig havde gået i skole, sagde til mig," Hør engang, Zeray.
05:47
You either don't know what you're looking for,
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Enten ved du ikke hvad du er på udkig efter,
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or you're looking in the wrong place," he said.
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eller du leder det forkerte sted," sagde han.
05:52
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
05:53
And I said, "Why?" "Because there were elephants and lions,
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Og jeg sagde, "Hvorfor?" "Fordi der var elefanter og løver,
05:56
and the people were scared and went somewhere else.
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og menneskerne var bange og tog et andet sted hen.
05:58
Let's go somewhere else."
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Lad os tage et andet sted hen."
06:00
Well, he was very tired, and it's really tiring.
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Jamen, han var meget træt, og det er virkelig trættende.
06:02
It was then, after such hard work and many frustrating years that we found Selam,
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Det var da, efter så hårdt arbejde og mange frustrerende år at vi fandt Selam,
06:07
and you see the face here covered by sandstone.
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og man ser her ansigtet der er dækket af sandsten.
06:10
And here is actually the spinal column
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Og her er faktisk rygraden
06:12
and the whole torso encased in a sandstone block,
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og hele torsoen der er indkapslet i en blok sandsten,
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because she was buried by a river.
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fordi hun blev begravet af en flod.
06:19
What you have here seems to be nothing,
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Det der er her ser ud til ikke at være noget,
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but contains an incredible amount of scientific information
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men indeholder en utrolig mængde videnskabelig information
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that helps us explore what makes us human.
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der hjælper os med at udforske det der gør os menneskelige.
06:28
This is the earliest and most complete juvenile human ancestor
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Dette er den tidligste og meste komplette mindreårige menneskelige forfader
06:32
ever found in the history of paleoanthropology,
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nogensinde fundet i palæoantrologiens historie,
06:34
an amazing piece of our long, long history.
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et forbløffende stykke i vores lange, lange historie.
06:38
There were these three people and me, and I am taking the pictures,
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Der var disse tre mennesker og jeg selv, og jeg tager billederne,
06:41
that's why I am not in.
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det er derfor jeg ikke er der.
06:43
How would you feel if you were me? You have something extraordinary in your hand,
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Hvordan ville I have det hvis I var mig? Man ville have noget ekstraordinært i hænderne,
06:46
but you are in the middle of nowhere?
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men man midt ude i ingenting?
06:48
The feeling I had was a deep and quiet happiness and excitement,
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Følelsen jeg havde, var en dyb og stille glæde og begejstring,
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of course accompanied by a huge sense of responsibility,
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selvfølgelig ledsaget af en stor ansvarsfølelse,
06:56
of making sure everything is safe.
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for at sikre at vi sørgede for at alt var sikkert.
06:59
Here is a close-up of the fossil, after five years of cleaning,
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Her er et nærbillede af fossilet, efter fem års rengøring,
07:04
preparation and description, which was very long,
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klargøring og beskrivelse, hvilket var meget længe,
07:08
as I had to expose the bones from the sandstone block
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og jeg måtte afdække knoglerne af sandstens blokken
07:11
I just showed you in the previous slide.
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jeg viste jer i den foregående slide.
07:13
It took five years.
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Det tog fem år.
07:14
In a way, this was like the second birth for the child, after 3.3 million years,
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På en måde, var dette en slags anden fødsels for barnet, efter 3.3 millioner år,
07:19
but the labor was very long.
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men fødslen var meget lang.
07:22
And here is full scale -- it's a tiny bone.
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Og her det almindelige målestoksforhold -- det er en lillebitte knogle.
07:26
And in the middle is the minister of Ethiopian tourism,
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Og i midten er Etiopiens turistminister,
07:29
who came to visit the National Museum of Ethiopia while I was working there.
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der kom og besøgte National Museum of Ethiopia mens jeg arbejdede der.
07:33
And you see me worried and trying to protect my child,
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Og man kan se mig være bekymret over at beskytte mit barn,
07:36
because you don't leave anyone with this kind of child,
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fordi man lader ikke nogen være selv med denne slags barn,
07:39
even a minister.
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selv en minister.
07:42
So then, once you've done that, the next stage is to know what it is.
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Så når man først har gjort det, er det næste stadie at vide hvad det er.
07:46
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
07:49
Once that was done, then it was possible to compare.
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Da det var gjort, da var det muligt at sammenligne.
07:53
We were able to tell that she belonged
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Vi var i stand til at se at hun tilhørte
07:55
to the human family tree because the legs, the foot,
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det menneskelige familie træ, fordi benene, foden,
07:59
and some features clearly showed that she walked upright,
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og nogle kendetegn tydeligt viste at hun gik oprejst,
08:03
and upright walking is a hallmark in humanity.
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og at gå oprejst er et kendetegn for menneskeheden.
08:06
But in addition, if you compare the skull
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Men derudover, hvis man sammenligner kraniet
08:09
with a comparably aged chimpanzee and little George Bush here,
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med en chimpanse af samme alder, og lille George Bush her,
08:12
you see that you have vertical forehead.
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kan man se at man har en vertikal pande.
08:16
And you see that in humans, because of the development
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Og man ser det hos mennesker, på grund af udviklingen
08:19
of the pre-frontal cortex, it's called.
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i den præ-frontale cortex, som den hedder.
08:21
You don't see that in chimpanzees,
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Man ser det ikke hos chimpanser,
08:24
and you don't see this very projecting canine.
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og man ser ikke disse meget fremadstående hjørnetænder.
08:28
So she belongs to our family tree, but within that, of course,
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Så hun hører til vores familie træ, men indenfor det, selvfølgelig,
08:31
you do detailed analysis, and we know now
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laver man detaljerede analyser, og vi ved
08:33
that she belongs to the Lucy species,
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at hun tilhører til Lucy arten,
08:35
known as Australopithecus afarensis.
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kendt som Australopithecus afarensis.
08:38
The next exciting question is, girl or boy?
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Det næste spændende spørgsmål er, pige eller dreng?
08:41
And how old was she when she died?
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Og hvor gammel var hun da hun døde?
08:43
You can determine the sex of the individual
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Man kan bestemme individets køn
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based on the size of the teeth.
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baseret på tændernes størrelse.
08:49
How?
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Hvordan?
08:50
You know, in primates, there is this phenomenon
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I ved, hos primater, er der dette fænomen
08:52
called sexual dimorphism, which simply means
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der hedder seksuel dimorfisme, der simpelt sagt betyder
08:54
males are larger than females and males have larger teeth
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at mænd er større end kvinder og mænd har større tænder
08:56
than the females.
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end kvinder.
08:58
But to do that, you need the permanent dentition,
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Men for at gøre det, har man brug for et permanent tandsystem,
09:00
which you don't see here, because what you have here
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hvilket man ikke ser her, fordi det man har her
09:02
are the baby teeth.
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er baby tænder.
09:04
But using the CT scanning technology,
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Men ved at bruge CT skanning teknologi,
09:06
which is normally used for medical purposes,
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hvilket normalt bruges til medicinske formål,
09:08
you can go deep into the mouth and come up with this beautiful image
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kan man gå dybt ind i munden og komme op med dette flotte billede
09:11
showing you both the baby teeth here
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der viser både baby tænderne her
09:13
and the still-growing adult teeth here.
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og de stadigt voksende voksen tænder her.
09:17
So when you measure those teeth,
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Så når man måler disse tænder,
09:19
it was clear that she turned out to be a girl
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var det klart at hun begyndte at være en pige
09:22
with very small canine teeth.
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med meget små hjørnetænder.
09:25
And to know how old she was when she died, what you do is
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Og for at vide hvor gammel hun var da hun døde, det man gør er
09:27
you do an informed estimate, and you say, how much time would be required
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at man laver en informeret vurdering, og man siger, hvor meget tid ville det kræve
09:33
to form this amount of teeth, and the answer was three.
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at danne denne mængde tænder, og svaret var tre.
09:38
So, this girl died when she was about three,
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Så, denne pige døde da hun var cirka tre,
09:41
3.3 million years ago.
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for 3.3 millioner år siden.
09:43
So, with all that information, the big question is --
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Så, med al den information, er det store spørgsmål --
09:46
what do we actually -- what does she tell us?
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hvad gør vi faktisk -- hvad fortæller hun os?
09:50
To answer this question, we can phrase another question.
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For at svare på dette spørgsmål, kan vi stille et andet spørgsmål.
09:52
What do we actually know about our ancestors?
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Hvad ved vi faktisk om vores forfædre?
09:55
We want to know how they looked like, how they behaved,
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Vi vil vide hvordan de så ud, hvordan de opførte sig,
09:57
how they walked around,
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hvordan de gik rundt,
09:59
and how they lived and grew up.
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og hvordan de levede og voksede op.
10:02
And among the answers that you can get from this skeleton
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Og iblandt de svar man kan få af dette skelet
10:07
are included: first, this skeleton documents,
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er der: først, dette skelet dokumenterer,
10:12
for the first time, how infants looked over three million years ago.
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for første gang, hvordan spædbørn så ud for mere end tre millioner år siden.
10:17
And second, she tells us that she walked upright,
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Og for det andet, fortæller hun os at hun gik oprejst,
10:20
but had some adaptation for tree climbing.
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men havde en tilpasning til at klatre i træer.
10:23
And more interesting, however,
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Og mere interessant, i midlertidigt,
10:25
is the brain in this child was still growing.
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er at hjernen i dette barn stadig voksede.
10:27
At age three, if you have a still-growing brain,
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Hvis man i en alder af tre år har en stadigt voksende hjerne,
10:30
it's a human behavior.
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er det menneskelig adfærd.
10:32
In chimps, by age three, the brain is formed over 90 percent.
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Hos chimpanser, er hjernen 90 procent formet i treårs alderen.
10:37
That's why they can cope with their environment
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Det er derfor de kan klare sig i deres miljø
10:40
very easily after birth -- faster than us, anyway.
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meget nemt efter fødslen -- hurtigere end os, i hvert fald.
10:43
But in humans, we continue to grow our brains.
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Men hos mennesker, fortsætter vi med at udvikle vores hjerne.
10:45
That's why we need care from our parents.
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Det er derfor vi har brug for pleje af vores forældre.
10:48
But that care means also you learn.
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Men den pleje betyder også at man lærer.
10:50
You spend more time with your parents.
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Man brugere mere tid med sine forældre.
10:52
And that's very characteristic of humans and it's called childhood,
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Og det er meget karakteristisk ved mennesker, og kaldes barndommen,
10:55
which is this extended dependence of human children
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hvilket er denne forlængede afhængighed menneskelige børn
10:58
on their family or parents.
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har af deres familie eller forældre.
11:01
So, the still-growing brain in this individual
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Så, den stadigt voksende hjerne i dette individ
11:05
tells us that childhood, which requires
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fortæller os at barndommen, der kræver
11:08
an incredible social organization,
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en utrolig social organisation,
11:11
a very complex social organization,
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en meget kompleks social organisation,
11:13
emerged over three million years ago.
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opstod for mere end tre millioner år siden.
11:15
So, by being at the cusp of our evolutionary history,
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Så, ved at være på tærsklen af vores evolutionære historie,
11:19
Selam unites us all and gives us a unique account
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samler Selam os alle og giver os en unik forklaring
11:24
on what makes us human.
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på hvad der gør os menneskelige.
11:27
But not everything was human, and I will give you
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Men ikke alt var menneskeligt, og jeg vil give jer
11:30
a very exciting example.
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et meget spændende eksempel.
11:32
This is called the hyoid bone. It's a bone which is right here.
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Dette er kaldet tungebenet. Det er en knogle der sidder lige her.
11:34
It supports your tongue from behind.
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Det understøtter tungen bagfra.
11:36
It's, in a way, your voice box.
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Det er, på en måde, ens strubehoved.
11:39
It determines the type of voice you produce.
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Det er bestemmende for den type stemme man producerer.
11:43
It was not known in the fossil record,
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Det var ikke kendt i de fossile spor,
11:45
and we have it in this skeleton.
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og vi har det i dette skelet.
11:48
When we did the analysis of this bone, it was clear
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Da vi lavede analysen af denne knogle, var det tydeligt
11:52
that it looked very chimp-like, chimpanzee-like.
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at det så meget chimpanseagtigt ud.
11:56
So if you were there 3.3 million years ago,
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Så hvis man var her for 3.3 millioner år siden,
12:00
to hear when this girl was crying out for her mother,
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til at høre da denne pige skreg på sin mor,
12:03
she would have sounded more like a chimpanzee than a human.
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ville hun have lydt mere som en chimpanse end et menneske.
12:06
Maybe you're wondering, "So, you see this ape feature, human feature, ape feature.
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Måske under I jer over, "Så, man ser disse abe kendetegn, menneskelige kendetegn, abekendetegn.
12:10
What does that tell us?"
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Hvad fortæller det os?"
12:12
You know, that is very exciting for us,
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I ved, det er meget spændende for os,
12:14
because it demonstrates that things were changing slowly and progressively,
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fordi det demonstrerer at tingene ændrede sig langsomt og trinvist,
12:17
and that evolution is in the making.
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og at det er evolution undervejs.
12:20
To summarize the significance of this fossil,
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For at opsummere betydningen af dette fossil,
12:23
we can say the following.
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kan vi sige det følgende.
12:25
Up to now, the knowledge that we had about our ancestors
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Indtil nu, er den viden vi har haft om vores forfædre
12:29
came essentially from adult individuals
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hovedsageligt kommet fra voksne individer
12:33
because the fossils, the baby fossils, were missing.
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fordi fossilerne, babyfossilerne, manglede.
12:36
They don't preserve well, as you know.
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De bevares ikke lige så godt, som I ved.
12:38
So the knowledge that we had about our ancestors,
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Så den viden vi havde om vores forfædre,
12:42
on how they looked like, how they behaved,
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om hvordan de så ud, hvordan de opførte sig,
12:44
was kind of biased toward adults.
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var mere påvirket i retning mod de voksne.
12:49
Imagine somebody coming from Mars
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Forestil jer nogen der kommer fra Mars
12:52
and his job is to report on the type of people
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og hans arbejde er at rapportere den type mennesker
12:54
occupying our planet Earth, and you hide all the babies,
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der bebor vores planet Jorden, og man gemmer alle babyerne,
12:57
the children, and he goes back and reports.
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børnene, og han tager tilbage og rapporterer det.
13:01
Can you imagine how much biased his report would be?
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Kan I forestille hvor meget skævhed der ville være i hans rapport?
13:05
That's what somehow we were doing so far
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Det er cirka det vi har gjort indtil videre
13:07
in the absence of the fossil children,
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i fraværet af fossile børn,
13:09
so I think the new fossil fixes this problem.
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så jeg tror dette nye fossil løser det problem.
13:14
So, I think the most important question at the end is,
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Så, jeg tror dette er det vigtigste spørgsmål i sidste ende,
13:19
what do we actually learn from specimens like this
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det vi faktisk lærer af eksemplarer som dette
13:22
and from our past in general?
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og af vores fortid generelt?
13:25
Of course, in addition to extracting this huge amount
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Selvfølgelig, ud over at udføre denne kæmpe mængde
13:28
of scientific information as to what makes us human,
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videnskabelig information om hvad der gør os menneskelige,
13:31
you know, the many human ancestors that have existed
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I ved, de mange menneskelige forfædre der har eksisteret
13:34
over the past six million years -- and there are more than 10 --
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i løbet af de sidste seks millioner år -- og der er mere end 10 --
13:38
they did not have the knowledge, the technology and sophistications
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de havde ikke den viden, teknologi og var ikke så sofistikerede
13:41
that we, Homo sapiens, have today.
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som os, Homo sapiens, har i dag.
13:43
But if this species, ancient species,
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Men hvis denne art, gamle art,
13:47
would travel in time and see us today,
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ville rejse i tiden og se os i dag,
13:50
they would very much be very proud of their legacy,
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ville de i høj grad være stolte af deres arv,
13:55
because they became the ancestors of
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fordi de blev forfædrene til
13:57
the most successful species in the universe.
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den mest succesrige art i universet.
13:59
And they were probably not aware of this future legacy,
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Og de var nok ikke klar over denne fremtidige arv,
14:01
but they did great.
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men de gjorde det godt.
14:03
Now the question is, we Homo sapiens today
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Nu er spørgsmålet, Homo sapiens er i dag
14:06
are in a position to decide about the future of our planet, possibly more.
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i en position hvor vi kan afgøre vores planets fremtid, måske mere.
14:12
So the question is, are we up to the challenge?
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Så spørgsmålet er,
14:15
And can we really do better than these primitive,
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Og kan vi virkelig gøre det bedre end disse primitive,
14:18
small-brained ancestors?
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småhjernede forfædre?
14:21
Among the most pressing challenges that our species
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Blandt de mest presserende udfordringer som vores art
14:25
is faced with today are the chronic problems of Africa.
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står overfor i dag, er de kroniske problemer i Afrika.
14:30
Needless to list them here, and there are more competent people
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Det er unødvendigt at liste dem her, og der er mere kompetente mennesker
14:33
to talk about this.
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der kan tale om dette.
14:36
Still, in my opinion, we have two choices.
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Alligevel, fra mit synspunkt, har vi to valg.
14:42
One is to continue to see a poor, ill, crying Africa,
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Et er at forsætte med at se dette fattige, syge, grædende Afrika,
14:48
carrying guns, that depends on other people forever,
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der bærer våben, der er afhængige af andre mennesker for altid,
14:53
or to promote an Africa which is confident,
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eller at promovere et Afrika der har selvtillid,
14:58
peaceful, independent, but cognizant of its huge problems
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fredfyldt, selvstændigt, men klar over sine store problemer
15:02
and great values at the same time.
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og store værdier på samme tid.
15:06
I am for the second option, and I'm sure many of you are.
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Jeg er for den anden mulighed, og jeg er sikker på at mange af jer også er det.
15:11
And the key is to promote a positive African attitude towards Africa.
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Og nøglen er at promovere en positiv afrikansk attitude imod Afrika.
15:21
That's because we Africans concentrate --
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Det er fordi vi afrikanere koncentrerer --
15:25
I am from Ethiopia, by the way --
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jeg kommer fra Etiopien, for øvrigt --
15:27
we concentrate too much on how we are seen
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vi koncentrerer os for meget om hvordan vi bliver
15:29
from elsewhere, or from outside.
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set fra et andet sted, eller udefra.
15:32
I think it's important to promote in a more positive way
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Jeg mener det er vigtigt at promovere på en mere positiv måde
15:37
on how we see ourselves.
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til at se os selv på.
15:40
That's what I call positive African attitude.
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Det er det jeg kalder en positiv afrikansk attitude.
15:43
So finally, I would like to say,
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Så til slut, vil jeg gerne sige,
15:46
so let's help Africa walk upright and forward,
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lad os hjælpe Afrika med at gå oprejst og fremad,
15:51
then we all can be proud of our future legacy as a species.
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så vi alle kan være stolte af vores fremtidige arv som art.
15:56
Thank you.
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Tak.
15:58
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Zeresenay Alemseged - PaleoanthropologistZeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged digs in the Ethiopian desert, looking for the earliest signs of humanity. His most exciting find: the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old hominid child, from the species Australopithecus afarensis.
Why you should listen
Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged studies the origins of humanity. Through his Dikika Research Project (DRP) in the Afar desert of Ethiopia, he has discovered the earliest known skeleton of a hominid child, the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old girl of the species Australopithecus afarensis. She is a member of the same species as Lucy, discovered nearby in 1974.
In studying Selam's tiny bones, Alemseged is searching for the points at which we humans diverged from apes. For instance, Selam may have had ape-like shoulders, made for climbing trees -- but her legs were angled for walking upright. Her young brain, at age 3, was still growing, which implies that she was set to have a long human-style childhood. And in the hyoid bone of her throat, Alemseged sees the beginning of human speech.
Born in Axum, Ethiopia, Alemseged is based in San Francisco at the California Academy of Sciences where is is the Director and Curator of the Anthropology department. Prior to this, he was a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. To see more video from Alemseged, visit the video archives of Nature.
Zeresenay Alemseged | Speaker | TED.com