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As an archaeologist,

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I'm most often asked
what my favorite discovery is.

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The answer's easy:

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my husband, Greg.

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(Laughter)

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We met in Egypt on my first dig.

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It was my first lesson in finding
unexpected wonderful things.

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This began an incredible
archaeological partnership.

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Years later,

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I proposed to him in front of our
favorite pair statue

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of the Prince and Princess
Rahotep and Nofret,

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in the Cairo Museum,

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dating to 4,600 years ago.

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I mean, look at them,

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they're incredible.

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I think they should be
everyone's favorite pair statue.

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(Laughter)

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I thought, if I was going to ask Greg
to spend the rest of this life with me

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that I should ask him

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in front of two people who had pledged
to be together for eternity.

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These symbols endure

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because when we look at them,

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we're looking at mirrors.

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They are powerful reminders

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that our common humanity has not changed.

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The thrill of archaeological discovery
is as powerful as love

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because ancient history is the most
seductive mistress imaginable.

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Many archaeologists
have devoted their lives

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to unraveling the mysteries of the past

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under hot suns and Arctic winds,

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and in dense rainforests.

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Many seek,

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some discover,

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all worship at the temple of possibility

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that one discovery might change history.

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On my first day in Egypt,

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I worked at a site
in the Northeast Egyptian Delta

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at a site called Mendes,

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dating to 4,200 years ago

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in a cemetery.

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That's a picture of me --

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I'm just in my bliss.

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On a dig surrounded by
emerald green rice patties,

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I discovered an intact pot.

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Flipping it over,

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I discovered a human thumbprint
left by whoever made the vessel.

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For a moment,

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time stood still.

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I didn't know where I was.

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It was because at that moment I realized,

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when we dig,

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we're digging for people,

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not things.

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Never are we so present as when
we are in the midst of the great past.

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I can't tell you how many times I've stood
in front of the Pyramids of Giza,

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and they leave me speechless.

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I feel like the luckiest
person in the world.

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They're a monument to our human brilliance
and everything that is possible.

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Many cannot process
their brilliance as human --

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think that aliens built them --

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but this is ridiculous.

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All you need to do
is get up close and personal,

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and see the hidden hand of man

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in the chisel marks left
by the tools that built them.

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The Great Pyramid of Giza
was built one stone at a time

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with 2.3 million blocks

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with incredible bureaucratic efficiency.

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It is not the pyramids
that stand the test of time,

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it is human ingenuity.

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That is our shared human brilliance.

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History may be cyclical,

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but we are singular.

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I love what I do

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because I learn that we haven't changed.

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I get to read about mother-in-law
jokes from Mesopotamia

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from 3,500 years ago.

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I get to hear about neighbors cursing
each other from 4,600 years ago

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in Egypt.

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And my absolute favorite,

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from 3,300 years ago in Luxor,

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an inscription that describes school boys
who cut class to go drinking.

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(Laughter)

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Kids these days.

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(Laughter)

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I get to see the most
incredible architecture,

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see stunning sculptures --

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I mean this is basically
a selfie in stone --

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and see that we've always
rocked serious bling.

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And also,

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we've been posting on walls,

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and obsessing about cats --

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(Laughter)

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for thousands of years.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Archaeologists are the cultural
memory preservers

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and the spokespeople
for billions of people

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and the thousands of cultures
that came before us.

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Good science, imagination
and a leap of faith

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are the trifecta we use to raise the dead.

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In the last year,

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achaeologists have made
incredible discoveries,

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including ...

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new human ancestors from South Africa,

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tools from 3.3 million years ago --

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these are the oldest tools
ever discovered --

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in Kenya.

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And this,

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from a series of medical implements found
from Blackbeard's ship from 1718.

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What you're looking at is
a medical tool used to treat syphilis.

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Ouch.

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But how cool is that?

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(Laughter)

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For each of these,

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there are thousands of other
incredibly important discoveries

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made by my colleagues

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that do not make headlines.

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However, I believe that the most
important thing we do as archaeologists

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is acknowledge that past people existed

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and lived lives worth learning about.

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Can you even imagine what
the world would be like today

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if we acknowledged all
human beings in this way?

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So, on a dig, you have a challenge:

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it often looks like this.

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You can't see anything.

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Where are we going to start digging?

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This is from a site south of Cairo,

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so let's have a look from space.

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Again, you can't really see much.

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What you're looking at is
a WorldView-3 satellite image,

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which has a [point three-meter] resolution.

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That's 10 inches.

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This means that you can zoom in
from 400 miles in space,

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and see your tablets.

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How do I know about this?

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It's because I'm a space archaeologist.

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Let me repeat that.

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I am a space archaeologist.

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This means --

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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This means that I use satellite images,

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and process them using algorithms,

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and look at subtle differences
in the light spectrum

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that indicate buried things
under the ground

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that I get to go excavate and survey.

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By the way,

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NASA has a Space Archaeology program,

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so it's a real job.

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(Laughter)

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So, let's have a look again.

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We're back at the site
just south of Cairo.

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You can't see anything,

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so keep your eye on the red rectangle.

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When we process the image
using algorithms --

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think like a space-based CAT scan --

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this is what you see.

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This rectilinear form is an Ancient tomb

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that is previously unknown
and unexcavated,

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and you all are the first people
to see it in thousands of years.

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(Applause)

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I believe we have barely
scratched the surface

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in terms of what's left to discover.

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In the Egyptian Delta alone,

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we've excavated less than
[one-1000th] of one percent

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of the total volume of Egyptian sites.

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When you add to that

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to the thousands of other sites
my team and I have discovered,

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what we thought we knew
pales in comparison

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to what we have left to discover.

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When you look at the incredible work
that my colleagues are doing

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all around the world,

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and what they're finding,

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I believe that there are millions
of undiscovered archaeological sites

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left to find.

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Discovering them will do nothing less

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than unlock the full potential
of our existence.

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But we have a challenge.

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Over the last year,

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we've seen horrible headlines

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of incredible destruction going on
to archaeological sites,

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and massive looting by people like ISIL.

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ISIL has destroyed temples at Palmyra.

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Who blows up a temple?

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They've destroyed the Tomb of Jonah,

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and we've seen looting at sites so rampant

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it looks like craters of the moon.

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Knowing ISIL's desire to destroy
modern human lives,

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it's a natural extension for them
to destroy cultural identity as well.

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Countless invading armies
have done the same throughout history.

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We know that ISIL is profiting
from the looting of sites,

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but we don't know the scale.

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This means that any object purchased
on the market today from the Middle East

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could potentially be funding terrorism.

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When a site is looted,

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it's as if a puzzle already missing
90 percent of it pieces

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has had the rest obscured
beyond recognition.

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This is ancient identity theft writ large.

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We know that there are two kinds
of looting going on:

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looting by criminal elements like ISIL,

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which of course is something that we
can barely come to terms with,

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and then more local looting
by those that are desperate for money.

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We would all do the same
to feed our families.

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I don't blame the local looters.

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I blame the middlemen,

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the unethical traffickers,

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and an International art market

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that exploits often ambiguous
or even completely nonexistent laws.

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We know looting is going on
on a global scale and it's increasing,

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but presently we don't have
any tools to stop it.

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This is beginning to change.

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My team and I have just completed a study
looking at looting in Egypt,

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and we looked at open source data,

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and mapped the entirety
of looting across Egypt

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from 2002 to 2013.

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We found evidence of looting
and site destruction at 267 sites,

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and mapped over 200,000 looting pits.

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It's astonishing.

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And putting that data together --

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you can see the looting pits marked here.

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And one site,

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as the looting got bad
from 2009, 2011, 2012 --

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hundreds and hundreds of pits.

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Putting all the data together,

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what we found is that contrary
to popular opinion,

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looting did not start to get worse
in Egypt in 2011 after the Arab Spring,

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but in 2009,

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after the global recession.

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Thus, we've shown with big data

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that looting is fundamentally
an economic issue.

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If we do nothing to stop the problem,

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all of Egypt's sites will be
affected by looting by 2040.

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Thus, we are at a tipping point.

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We are the generation with all the tools
and all the technologies to stop looting,

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but we're not working fast enough.

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Sometimes an archaeological site
can surprise you with its resilience.

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I am just back from the field

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where I co-led a joint mission
with Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities

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at a site called Lisht.

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This site dates to the Middle Kingdom
of Egypt between 2000 and 1750 BC.

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The Middle Kingdom was ancient 
Egypt's Renaissance period.

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After a time of intense internal strife,

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and environmental challenges,

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Egypt rebounded

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with an incredible resurgence
of art, architecture and literature.

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It's a favorite period of time
to study in Egypt

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because it teaches us so much

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about how we can survive
and thrive after great disasters.

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Now, at this site, we had already mapped
countless looting pits.

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Lisht is a royal site,

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there would have been thousands
of people buried there

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who lived and worked
at the court of Pharaoh.

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And you can see this before and after --

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you see dozens of looting pits --

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North Lisht.

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This is in South Lisht:

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before and after.

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When we first visited the site,

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we could see the tombs
of many high-ranking officials

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that had been looted.

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Let me put into perspective
for you what was taken.

262
00:12:48,454 --> 00:12:51,425
Imagine a [two-meter-by-two-meter area]

263
00:12:51,425 --> 00:12:55,371
full of coffins, jewelry
and incredible statuary.

264
00:12:55,902 --> 00:12:59,096
Multiply that times over a thousand.

265
00:12:59,850 --> 00:13:01,571
That's what was taken.

266
00:13:02,231 --> 00:13:03,548
So, when we started work,

267
00:13:03,548 --> 00:13:04,717
my Egyptian co-director,

268
00:13:04,717 --> 00:13:05,721
Mohamed Youssef,

269
00:13:05,721 --> 00:13:06,863
approached me and said,

270
00:13:06,863 --> 00:13:09,697
"We must work at this one particular tomb,

271
00:13:09,697 --> 00:13:11,479
it's been attacked by looters.

272
00:13:11,479 --> 00:13:12,669
If we don't do anything,

273
00:13:12,669 --> 00:13:13,673
they'll be back."

274
00:13:13,673 --> 00:13:14,663
Of course I agreed,

275
00:13:14,663 --> 00:13:16,883
but I didn't think we'd find anything.

276
00:13:16,883 --> 00:13:18,961
I thought the looters
had stolen everything.

277
00:13:18,961 --> 00:13:21,951
What we started to find
was the most incredible reliefs.

278
00:13:21,951 --> 00:13:23,119
Look at this painting --

279
00:13:23,119 --> 00:13:24,121
it's just stunning.

280
00:13:24,121 --> 00:13:26,967
We started finding engraved inscriptions.

281
00:13:26,967 --> 00:13:29,061
And even the titles of the tomb owner --

282
00:13:29,061 --> 00:13:31,395
he had titles like,
"Overseer of the Army,"

283
00:13:31,395 --> 00:13:32,973
"Overseer of the Treasury."

284
00:13:32,973 --> 00:13:34,313
I began to have hope.

285
00:13:34,313 --> 00:13:35,311
Maybe,

286
00:13:35,311 --> 00:13:38,128
just maybe we would find his name.

287
00:13:38,128 --> 00:13:39,409
For the ancient Egyptians,

288
00:13:39,409 --> 00:13:42,438
having their name last
for eternity was their goal.

289
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:44,737
And then one day,

290
00:13:44,737 --> 00:13:45,918
this appeared.

291
00:13:46,483 --> 00:13:49,505
This is the name of the tomb owner,

292
00:13:49,505 --> 00:13:50,586
Intf.

293
00:13:50,925 --> 00:13:53,700
You can see it written out
here in hieroglyphs.

294
00:13:53,700 --> 00:13:56,441
Working together with my Egyptian team,

295
00:13:56,441 --> 00:14:00,618
we had restored someone's name
from 3,900 years ago.

296
00:14:01,407 --> 00:14:02,854
So here's the thing.

297
00:14:03,133 --> 00:14:07,886
I promised my team
that if we found his name,

298
00:14:07,886 --> 00:14:09,596
I would ululate.

299
00:14:09,936 --> 00:14:10,942
(Laughter)

300
00:14:11,112 --> 00:14:14,912
Ululation is a modern Egyptian
woman's victory song.

301
00:14:16,152 --> 00:14:18,135
A promise is a promise.

302
00:14:19,070 --> 00:14:22,198
Intf, Son of [Ippe],

303
00:14:22,198 --> 00:14:24,719
Overseer of the Army,

304
00:14:24,719 --> 00:14:25,725
The Justified --

305
00:14:25,725 --> 00:14:27,715
this is for you.

306
00:14:29,238 --> 00:14:31,753
(Ululating)

307
00:14:33,074 --> 00:14:35,121
(Applause)

308
00:14:40,839 --> 00:14:42,977
Working together
with my Egyptian colleagues,

309
00:14:42,977 --> 00:14:45,194
we celebrated this moment
of shared discovery.

310
00:14:45,194 --> 00:14:48,054
What we were doing together
was right and true.

311
00:14:48,641 --> 00:14:50,371
We found this incredible false door,

312
00:14:50,371 --> 00:14:51,371
mostly intact.

313
00:14:51,371 --> 00:14:54,381
On it we read about Intf
and his inscriptions.

314
00:14:54,381 --> 00:14:56,991
You can actually even see him seated here.

315
00:14:58,405 --> 00:14:59,734
What I realized

316
00:14:59,734 --> 00:15:04,381
is that everything I had assumed
about looted sites had been proven wrong.

317
00:15:04,705 --> 00:15:08,053
Every day on site we worked
together with 70 Egyptians

318
00:15:08,053 --> 00:15:10,624
as colleagues and friends.

319
00:15:11,011 --> 00:15:13,601
In the face of so much
hatred and ignorance

320
00:15:13,601 --> 00:15:15,723
against those in the Middle East,

321
00:15:15,723 --> 00:15:19,765
every moment on site felt like
a protest for peace.

322
00:15:20,276 --> 00:15:22,651
When you work with those
that don't look like you,

323
00:15:22,651 --> 00:15:25,078
or think like you, or speak like you,

324
00:15:25,078 --> 00:15:27,981
your shared mission
of archaeological discovery

325
00:15:27,981 --> 00:15:30,917
erases all superficial differences.

326
00:15:32,304 --> 00:15:33,867
What I learned this season

327
00:15:33,867 --> 00:15:37,006
is that archaeology
isn't about what you find,

328
00:15:37,006 --> 00:15:39,689
it's about what you can prove possible.

329
00:15:40,501 --> 00:15:43,595
So, sometimes when you travel
you end up finding long lost family,

330
00:15:43,595 --> 00:15:46,125
not those with whom you share genes,

331
00:15:46,125 --> 00:15:48,286
but a shared entry in the book of life.

332
00:15:48,669 --> 00:15:50,524
This is [Omer Farrouk],

333
00:15:50,524 --> 00:15:51,648
my brother.

334
00:15:52,153 --> 00:15:55,693
Omar's a Gufti from a village
just North of Luxor,

335
00:15:55,693 --> 00:15:56,750
called Guft.

336
00:15:56,750 --> 00:15:59,388
Guftis are part of a celebrated
tradition in Egyptology.

337
00:15:59,388 --> 00:16:02,617
They help with digging
and [work crew] organization.

338
00:16:02,617 --> 00:16:05,072
Omer is my COO and CFO.

339
00:16:05,072 --> 00:16:07,260
I simply couldn't do work without him.

340
00:16:08,256 --> 00:16:09,842
One day many years ago,

341
00:16:09,842 --> 00:16:11,595
when I was a young graduate student

342
00:16:11,595 --> 00:16:15,744
and Omer was a young Gufti
who couldn't speak much English,

343
00:16:15,744 --> 00:16:16,782
we learned,

344
00:16:16,782 --> 00:16:17,822
completely randomly,

345
00:16:17,822 --> 00:16:20,987
that we were born on the same year,

346
00:16:20,987 --> 00:16:22,731
the same month

347
00:16:22,731 --> 00:16:26,667
and the same day six hours apart.

348
00:16:27,706 --> 00:16:28,806
Twins.

349
00:16:28,806 --> 00:16:30,200
(Laughter)

350
00:16:31,111 --> 00:16:32,379
Separated by an ocean,

351
00:16:32,379 --> 00:16:33,405
but forever connected

352
00:16:33,405 --> 00:16:35,736
for Ancient Egypt as our mother.

353
00:16:36,203 --> 00:16:38,419
I knew then we'd always work together.

354
00:16:38,419 --> 00:16:40,761
Not in my brain,

355
00:16:40,761 --> 00:16:45,258
but in the part of your soul that knows
that not everything can be explained.

356
00:16:46,519 --> 00:16:47,520
(Arabic)

357
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,040
Omer by brother,

358
00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,798
I will always love you.

359
00:16:52,798 --> 00:16:53,795
(English)

360
00:16:53,795 --> 00:16:55,379
Omer my brother,

361
00:16:55,379 --> 00:16:57,733
I will always love you.

362
00:16:58,197 --> 00:17:00,730
So, just before my first dig in Egypt,

363
00:17:00,730 --> 00:17:01,817
my mentor --

364
00:17:01,817 --> 00:17:03,034
very famous Egyptologist,

365
00:17:03,034 --> 00:17:04,699
Professor William Kelley Simpson --

366
00:17:04,699 --> 00:17:06,127
called me into his office.

367
00:17:06,127 --> 00:17:09,566
He handed me a check for $2,000,

368
00:17:09,566 --> 00:17:12,342
and said, "This is to cover your expenses,

369
00:17:12,342 --> 00:17:14,900
have a glorious adventure this summer.

370
00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:18,309
Someday you will do this
for someone else."

371
00:17:19,326 --> 00:17:23,806
Thus, my TED Prize wish
is partial payback plus interest --

372
00:17:23,806 --> 00:17:24,813
(Laughter)

373
00:17:24,813 --> 00:17:28,970
for a great human being's
generosity and kindess.

374
00:17:30,699 --> 00:17:32,191
So, my wish.

375
00:17:33,063 --> 00:17:38,553
I wish for us to discover the millions
of unknown archaeological sites

376
00:17:38,553 --> 00:17:40,377
around the world.

377
00:17:40,377 --> 00:17:44,715
By creating a 21st-century army
of global explorers,

378
00:17:44,715 --> 00:17:47,845
we'll find and protect
the world's hidden heritage,

379
00:17:47,845 --> 00:17:53,420
which contains clues to humankind's
collective resilience and creativity.

380
00:17:54,724 --> 00:17:56,316
(Applause)

381
00:17:56,316 --> 00:17:57,318
Thank you.

382
00:17:57,318 --> 00:17:58,318
(Applause)

383
00:18:05,512 --> 00:18:07,682
So how are we going to do this?

384
00:18:08,228 --> 00:18:11,736
We are going to build
with the TED Prize money

385
00:18:11,736 --> 00:18:15,818
an online, crowdsource,
citizen science platform

386
00:18:15,818 --> 00:18:21,380
to allow anyone in the world to engage
with discovering archaeological sites.

387
00:18:22,825 --> 00:18:26,390
There are only a couple hundred of us
space archaeologists around the world.

388
00:18:26,390 --> 00:18:29,331
It is my dream to engage the world

389
00:18:29,331 --> 00:18:32,210
with helping to find sites
and protect them.

390
00:18:32,773 --> 00:18:35,034
What you'll do is you'll sign in,

391
00:18:35,034 --> 00:18:36,044
create a username --

392
00:18:36,044 --> 00:18:38,827
this particular username is already taken.

393
00:18:38,827 --> 00:18:39,879
(Laughter)

394
00:18:40,806 --> 00:18:42,900
You'll take a tutorial
and you'll start work.

395
00:18:42,900 --> 00:18:44,337
I want to note at the outset

396
00:18:44,337 --> 00:18:48,602
that in no way will be sharing
GPS data or mapping data for sites.

397
00:18:48,602 --> 00:18:51,223
We want to treat them
like human patient data,

398
00:18:51,223 --> 00:18:53,122
and not reveal their locations.

399
00:18:53,122 --> 00:18:55,655
You'll know you're in Northern Italy
or Southern Peru,

400
00:18:55,655 --> 00:18:58,086
but you'll certainly not know
exactly where you are,

401
00:18:58,086 --> 00:18:59,564
we've got to protect the sites.

402
00:18:59,564 --> 00:19:01,472
You'll then be dealt a card from a deck,

403
00:19:01,472 --> 00:19:03,642
whether is 20-by-20 meters
or 30-by-30 meters,

404
00:19:03,642 --> 00:19:05,575
and you'll be looking then for features.

405
00:19:05,575 --> 00:19:08,631
My team will have batch processed
large amounts of satellite data

406
00:19:08,631 --> 00:19:09,805
using algorithms

407
00:19:09,805 --> 00:19:11,342
in order for you to find things,

408
00:19:11,344 --> 00:19:13,272
so you'll be doing really good science.

409
00:19:13,272 --> 00:19:14,798
You'll then be starting to look.

410
00:19:14,798 --> 00:19:15,804
What do you see?

411
00:19:15,804 --> 00:19:16,798
Do you see a temple?

412
00:19:16,798 --> 00:19:18,133
Do you see a tomb?

413
00:19:18,133 --> 00:19:19,499
Do you see a pyramid?

414
00:19:19,828 --> 00:19:23,548
Do you see any potential
site damage or site looting?

415
00:19:23,548 --> 00:19:25,692
You'll then begin to mark what's there,

416
00:19:25,692 --> 00:19:26,687
and off to the side

417
00:19:26,687 --> 00:19:30,470
are always going to be rich examples
of exactly what you're seeing

418
00:19:30,470 --> 00:19:31,855
to help guide you.

419
00:19:31,855 --> 00:19:36,493
All the data that you help us collect
will be shared with vetted authorities,

420
00:19:36,493 --> 00:19:39,769
and will help create
a new global alarm system

421
00:19:39,769 --> 00:19:41,684
to help protect sites.

422
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:44,526
But it's not just going to stop there.

423
00:19:45,523 --> 00:19:48,651
All the archaeologists with whom
we share your discoveries

424
00:19:48,651 --> 00:19:52,414
will take you with them
as they begin to excavate them

425
00:19:52,414 --> 00:19:56,799
by using Periscope, Google Plus
and social media.

426
00:19:58,180 --> 00:19:59,603
100 years ago,

427
00:19:59,603 --> 00:20:01,784
archaeology was for the rich.

428
00:20:02,268 --> 00:20:04,155
50 years ago,

429
00:20:04,155 --> 00:20:05,499
it was for men.

430
00:20:05,805 --> 00:20:08,078
Now it's primarily for academics.

431
00:20:08,766 --> 00:20:13,467
Our goal is to democratize the process
of archaeological discovery,

432
00:20:13,467 --> 00:20:16,028
and allow anyone to participate.

433
00:20:16,940 --> 00:20:18,955
94 years ago,

434
00:20:18,955 --> 00:20:21,793
Howard Carter discovered
the tomb of King Tut.

435
00:20:22,934 --> 00:20:25,313
Who is the next Howard Carter?

436
00:20:26,553 --> 00:20:28,185
It might be you.

437
00:20:30,941 --> 00:20:32,678
By creating this platform,

438
00:20:32,678 --> 00:20:37,300
we will find the millions of places
occupied by the billions of people

439
00:20:37,300 --> 00:20:38,904
that came before us.

440
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,915
If we want to answer the big questions
about who we are

441
00:20:42,915 --> 00:20:44,196
and where we've come from,

442
00:20:44,196 --> 00:20:48,641
the answers to those questions
do not lie in pyramids or palaces,

443
00:20:48,641 --> 00:20:52,689
but in the cities and villages
of those that came before us.

444
00:20:53,365 --> 00:20:56,092
If we want to learn about the past,

445
00:20:56,092 --> 00:20:58,859
it's time we inverted the pyramids.

446
00:21:00,154 --> 00:21:03,746
Acknowledging that the past
is worth saving

447
00:21:03,746 --> 00:21:06,566
means so much more --

448
00:21:06,566 --> 00:21:10,855
it means that we're worth saving, too.

449
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:15,844
And the greatest story ever told

450
00:21:15,844 --> 00:21:19,268
is the story of our shared human journey.

451
00:21:20,386 --> 00:21:23,759
But the only way that we're going
to be able to write it

452
00:21:23,759 --> 00:21:26,630
is if we do it together.

453
00:21:28,109 --> 00:21:29,509
Come with me.

454
00:21:29,857 --> 00:21:30,869
Thank you.

455
00:21:30,869 --> 00:21:32,551
(Applause)