Sarah Parcak: Hunting for Peru's lost civilizations -- with satellites
Sarah Parcak: A caccia delle civiltà perdute del Perù - con i satelliti
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
e professore a 35 anni
the dense rainforest foliage
della foresta pluviale
maze of structures
di labirinti interconnessi
di questo progetto
by National Geographic,
dal National Geographic
of its magazine in 1912.
della rivista nel 1912.
photography equipment
macchine fotografiche all'avanguardia
on an incredible journey with me,
in un'incredibile avventura con me,
than use state-of-the-art technology
che usare tecnologia all'avanguardia
more open, inclusive,
più aperta, inclusiva,
not previously possible.
the 2016 TED Prize platform
Hiram Bingham's impossible dream
di Hiram Bingham
in un futuro straordinario
of human figures.
di figure umane.
with some incredible organizations,
con organizzazioni incredibili,
the world's largest provider
il più grande fornitore al mondo
commercial satellite imagery.
in alta risoluzione.
platform they have.
piattaforma collaborativa.
and search for the airplane.
dell'aereo MH370.
with the satellite imagery.
le immagini satellitari.
with education and of course exploration.
con l'istruzione e l'esplorazione.
with rich content for the platform,
per la piattaforma,
like you saw at the beginning of this talk
come quella che avete visto all'inizio
to build and plan the platform,
e progettare la piattaforma,
at some of the satellite imagery.
is 0.3-meter data.
sono dati di 0,3 metri.
in northern Peru.
nel Nord del Perù.
but let's zoom in.
zoommiamo un po'.
that you all will get to see.
che potrete vedere.
individual buildings.
to find previously unknown sites.
precedentemente sconosciuti.
is that as part of the platform,
è che come parte della piattaforma,
thousands of previously unknown sites,
migliaia di siti sconosciuti,
to uncover large-scale looting at sites,
a scoprire saccheggi sui siti,
is that all of this data
with archaeologists on the front lines
con archeologi in prima linea
meeting with their Minister of Culture
un incontro con il Ministro della Cultura
in both English and Spanish,
Latin America can participate.
possa partecipare.
is the gentleman you see here,
co-responsabile è questo signore,
and former vice-minister,
ed ex vice-ministro,
and share the data with archaeologists
e condividere i dati con gli archeologi
these sites on the ground.
drone mapping program,
programma di mappatura con i droni,
you can see behind me here and here.
alcune delle immagini.
into the platform,
nella piattaforma,
some of the new sites you help find.
di alcuni siti che aiuterete a trovare.
with education, outreach,
l'estensione,
di salvaguardia del sito,
Preservation Initiative,
poorest communities
più povere del mondo
most well-known archaeological sites.
più noti del mondo.
and business training.
economici e commerciali.
to create beautiful handicrafts
a creare bellissimi manufatti
to treasure their cultural heritage
di valorizzare il patrimonio culturale
with 24 of these women
un po' di tempo con 24 di queste donne
called Pachacamac, just outside Lima.
di nome Pachacamac, poco fuori Lima.
sono incredibilmente illuminanti,
will help us transform communities
ci aiuterà a trasformare le comunità
that you help to discover.
che aiuterete a scoprire.
this platform to the world,
thousands of emails
professors, educators, students,
professori, educatori, studenti,
who are so excited to help participate.
che sono così entusiasti di partecipare.
amazing places for us to help discover,
posti magnifici da scoprire,
to be looking for Atlantis,
to launch this platform.
di questa piattaforma.
by the end of the year.
entro la fine dell'anno.
in the past few weeks are any indication,
nelle ultime settimane è indicativo,
is just going to be beyond imagination.
andrà ben oltre l'immaginazione.
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