Sarah Parcak: Hunting for Peru's lost civilizations -- with satellites
שרה פאראק: חיפוש אחר התרבויות האבודות של פרו - עם לוויינים
Like a modern-day Indiana Jones, Sarah Parcak uses satellite images to locate lost ancient sites. The winner of the 2016 TED Prize, her wish is to protect the world’s shared cultural heritage. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
set out from his rainforest camp
יצא מהמחנה שלו ביערות הגשם
the dense rainforest foliage
maze of structures
by National Geographic,
הנשיונל גיאוגרפיק,
of its magazine in 1912.
המגזין שלו ב-1912.
photography equipment
המילה האחרונה לזמנו
on an incredible journey with me,
than use state-of-the-art technology
שהיא המילה האחרונה
more open, inclusive,
not previously possible.
the 2016 TED Prize platform
Hiram Bingham's impossible dream
של חירם בינגהאם
of human figures.
with some incredible organizations,
כמה ארגונים מדהימים,
the world's largest provider
הספקית הגדולה בעולם
commercial satellite imagery.
platform they have.
and search for the airplane.
with the satellite imagery.
with education and of course exploration.
עם חינוך וכמובן חיפוש,
with rich content for the platform,
עבור הפלטפורמה,
like you saw at the beginning of this talk
שראיתם בתחילת השיחה הזו
to build and plan the platform,
at some of the satellite imagery.
is 0.3-meter data.
כאן זה נתונים ברזולוציה של 0.3 מטר.
in northern Peru.
but let's zoom in.
that you all will get to see.
individual buildings.
בניינים בודדים.
to find previously unknown sites.
שלא היו ידועים קודם.
is that as part of the platform,
הוא שבמסגרת הפלטפורמה,
thousands of previously unknown sites,
שלא היו ידועים קודם,
to uncover large-scale looting at sites,
ביזה בקנה מידה גדולה באתרים,
is that all of this data
with archaeologists on the front lines
meeting with their Minister of Culture
in both English and Spanish,
Latin America can participate.
הלטינית יוכלו להשתתף.
is the gentleman you see here,
בפרויקט הוא האדם שאתם רואים כאן,
and former vice-minister,
וסגן שר לשעבר,
and share the data with archaeologists
את הנתונים עם ארכיאולוגים
these sites on the ground.
אתרים אלה על הקרקע.
drone mapping program,
המזל"ט המדהימה הזו.
you can see behind me here and here.
מאחורי כאן ושם.
into the platform,
הפלטפורמה.
some of the new sites you help find.
מהאתרים החדשים שתעזרו למצוא.
with education, outreach,
Preservation Initiative,
poorest communities
most well-known archaeological sites.
הארכאולוגיים הכי ידועים.
and business training.
to create beautiful handicrafts
ליצור עבודות יד יפות
to treasure their cultural heritage
להוקיר את מורשתן התרבותית
with 24 of these women
עם 24 מנשים אלו
called Pachacamac, just outside Lima.
פאצ'אקאמאק, ממש מחוץ ללימה.
will help us transform communities
יעזור לנו להפוך קהילות
that you help to discover.
this platform to the world,
פלטפורמה זו לעולם כולו,
thousands of emails
professors, educators, students,
פרופסורים, אנשי חינוך, סטודנטים,
who are so excited to help participate.
שכל כך שמחים לעזור להשתתף.
amazing places for us to help discover,
מקומות מדהימים שנעזור לגלות,
to be looking for Atlantis,
לחפש את אטלנטיס,
to launch this platform.
להשיק פלטפורמה זו.
by the end of the year.
in the past few weeks are any indication,
הוא אינדיקציה כלשהי,
is just going to be beyond imagination.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sarah Parcak - Satellite archaeologist + TED Prize winnerLike a modern-day Indiana Jones, Sarah Parcak uses satellite images to locate lost ancient sites. The winner of the 2016 TED Prize, her wish is to protect the world’s shared cultural heritage.
Why you should listen
There may be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of undiscovered ancient sites across the globe. Sarah Parcak wants to locate them. As a space archaeologist, she analyzes high-resolution imagery collected by satellites in order to identify subtle changes to the Earth’s surface that might signal man-made features hidden from view. A TED Senior Fellow and a National Geographic Explorer, Parcak wrote the textbook on satellite archaeology and founded the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her goal: to make the world's invisible history visible once again.
In Egypt, Parcak's techniques have helped locate 17 potential pyramids, and more than 3,100 potential forgotten settlements. She's also made discoveries in the Viking world (as seen in the PBS Nova special, Vikings Unearthed) and across the Roman Empire (as shown in the BBC documentary, Rome’s Lost Empire). Her methods also offer a new way to understand how ancient sites are being affected by looting and urban development. By satellite-mapping Egypt and comparing sites over time, Parcak has noted a 1,000 percent increase in looting since 2009. It’s likely that millions of dollars worth of artifacts are stolen each year. Parcak hopes that, through her work, unknown sites can be protected to preserve our rich, vibrant history.
As the winner of the 2016 TED Prize, Parcak asked the world to help in this important work. By building a citizen science platform for archaeology, GlobalXplorer.org, Parcak invites anyone with an internet connection to help find the next potential looting pit or unknown tomb. GlobalXplorer launched on January 30, 2017, with volunteers working together to map Peru. Other countries will follow, as the platform democratizes discovery and makes satellite-mapping rapid and cost-effective.
Sarah Parcak | Speaker | TED.com