WEBVTT

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

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then I should ask him
in front of two people

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who had pledged
to be together for eternity.

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These symbols endure
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

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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,
I worked at a site

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in the Northeast Egyptian Delta
called Mendes, 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 the dig, surrounded
by emerald green rice paddies,

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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, 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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they think 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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(Laughter)

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I get to hear about neighbors
cursing each other

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from 4,600 years ago in Egypt.

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And my absolute favorite,
from 3,300 years ago in Luxor:

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an inscription that describes schoolboys
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, 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

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for the billions of people
and the thousands of cultures

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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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archaeologists have made
incredible discoveries, 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, from a series
of medical implements found

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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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(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, we 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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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 .3 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 I use satellite images
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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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
the thousands of other sites

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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

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that my colleagues are doing
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

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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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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,
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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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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At one site, 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, 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

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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 2,000 and 1,750 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
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
about how we can survive and thrive

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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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You can see this before and after;
you see dozens of looting pits.

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North Lisht.

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This is in South Lisht, 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.

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Imagine a two meter by two meter area
full of coffins, jewelry

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and incredible statuary.

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Multiply that times over a thousand.

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That's what was taken.

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So, when we started work,

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my Egyptian co-director, Mohamed Youssef,
approached me and said,

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"We must work at this one particular tomb.

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It's been attacked by looters.

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If we don't do anything, they'll be back."

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Of course I agreed,
but I didn't think we'd find anything.

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I thought the looters
had stolen everything.

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What we started to find
were the most incredible reliefs.

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Look at this painting --
it's just stunning.

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We started finding engraved inscriptions.

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And even the titles of the tomb owner --

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he had titles like,
"Overseer of the Army,"

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"Overseer of the Treasury."

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I began to have hope.

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Maybe, just maybe we would find his name.

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For the ancient Egyptians, having
their name last for eternity

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was their goal.

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And then one day,

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this appeared.

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This is the name of the tomb owner: Intef.

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You can see it written out
here, in hieroglyphs.

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Working together with my Egyptian team,

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we had restored someone's name
from 3,900 years ago.

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(Applause)

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Working together
with my Egyptian colleagues,

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we celebrated this moment
of shared discovery.

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What we were doing together
was right and true.

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We found this incredible
false door, mostly intact.

00:14:04.073 --> 00:14:07.197
On it we read about Intef
and his inscriptions.

00:14:07.221 --> 00:14:09.831
You can actually even see him seated here.

00:14:11.272 --> 00:14:15.865
What I realized is that everything
I had assumed about looted sites

00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:17.101
had been proven wrong.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:17.580 --> 00:14:20.905
Every day on site we worked
together with 70 Egyptians

00:14:20.929 --> 00:14:23.009
as colleagues and friends.

00:14:23.870 --> 00:14:26.525
In the face of so much
hatred and ignorance

00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:28.549
against those in the Middle East,

00:14:28.573 --> 00:14:32.292
every moment on site felt like
a protest for peace.

00:14:33.326 --> 00:14:35.677
When you work with those
that don't look like you,

00:14:35.701 --> 00:14:37.793
or think like you, or speak like you,

00:14:37.817 --> 00:14:40.697
your shared mission
of archaeological discovery

00:14:40.721 --> 00:14:43.657
erases all superficial differences.

00:14:45.068 --> 00:14:46.608
What I learned this season

00:14:46.632 --> 00:14:49.248
is that archaeology
isn't about what you find.

00:14:49.809 --> 00:14:52.492
It's about what you can prove possible.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:53.373 --> 00:14:56.510
Sometimes when you travel,
you end up finding long-lost family --

00:14:56.534 --> 00:14:59.041
not those with whom you share genes,

00:14:59.065 --> 00:15:01.056
but a shared entry in the book of life.

00:15:01.584 --> 00:15:04.208
This is [Omar Farrouk], my brother.

00:15:04.949 --> 00:15:09.557
Omar's a Gufti from a village
just North of Luxor, called Guft.

00:15:09.581 --> 00:15:12.202
Guftis are part of a celebrated
tradition in Egyptology.

00:15:12.226 --> 00:15:14.995
They help with digging
and work crew organization.

00:15:15.499 --> 00:15:17.931
Omar is my COO and CFO.

00:15:17.955 --> 00:15:19.980
I simply couldn't do work without him.

00:15:21.146 --> 00:15:24.544
One day many years ago,
when I was a young graduate student

00:15:24.568 --> 00:15:28.651
and Omar was a young Gufti
who couldn't speak much English,

00:15:28.675 --> 00:15:30.651
we learned, completely randomly,

00:15:30.675 --> 00:15:33.121
that we were born in the same year,

00:15:33.989 --> 00:15:35.590
the same month

00:15:35.614 --> 00:15:39.254
and the same day, six hours apart.

00:15:40.618 --> 00:15:41.769
Twins.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:41.793 --> 00:15:43.187
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:44.036 --> 00:15:46.334
Separated by an ocean,
but forever connected

00:15:46.358 --> 00:15:48.431
for Ancient Egypt is our mother.

00:15:49.047 --> 00:15:51.240
I knew then we'd always work together --

00:15:51.264 --> 00:15:52.621
not in my brain,

00:15:53.517 --> 00:15:58.014
but in the part of your soul that knows
not everything can be explained.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:59.530 --> 00:16:01.877
(Arabic) Omar by brother,

00:16:02.743 --> 00:16:05.662
I will always love you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:06.347 --> 00:16:09.887
(English) Omar my brother,
I will always love you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:11.252 --> 00:16:13.479
So, just before my first dig in Egypt,

00:16:13.503 --> 00:16:17.197
my mentor, the very famous Egyptologist
Professor William Kelley Simpson,

00:16:17.221 --> 00:16:18.516
called me into his office.

00:16:19.049 --> 00:16:22.406
He handed me a check for $2,000,

00:16:22.430 --> 00:16:25.104
and said, "This is to cover your expenses.

00:16:25.128 --> 00:16:27.232
Have a glorious adventure this summer.

00:16:27.728 --> 00:16:31.137
Someday you will do this
for someone else."

00:16:32.161 --> 00:16:36.272
Thus, my TED Prize wish
is partial payback, plus interest --

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:36.296 --> 00:16:37.550
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:37.574 --> 00:16:41.731
for a great human being's
generosity and kindness.

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:43.771 --> 00:16:44.976
So, my wish.

00:16:45.835 --> 00:16:51.502
I wish for us to discover the millions
of unknown archaeological sites

00:16:51.526 --> 00:16:53.137
around the world.

00:16:53.161 --> 00:16:57.599
By creating a 21st-century army
of global explorers,

00:16:57.623 --> 00:17:00.643
we'll find and protect
the world's hidden heritage,

00:17:00.667 --> 00:17:05.278
which contains clues
to humankind's collective resilience

00:17:05.302 --> 00:17:06.612
and creativity.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:07.464 --> 00:17:09.130
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:09.154 --> 00:17:10.344
Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:10.368 --> 00:17:13.340
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:18.434 --> 00:17:20.315
So how are we going to do this?

00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:24.471
We are going to build
with the TED Prize money

00:17:24.495 --> 00:17:28.553
an online, crowdsource,
citizen science platform

00:17:28.577 --> 00:17:32.863
to allow anyone in the world
to engage with discovering

00:17:32.887 --> 00:17:34.314
archaeological sites.

00:17:35.843 --> 00:17:39.469
There are only a couple hundred of us
space archaeologists around the world.

00:17:39.493 --> 00:17:42.164
It is my dream to engage the world

00:17:42.188 --> 00:17:44.706
with helping to find sites
and protect them.

00:17:45.672 --> 00:17:48.803
What you'll do is sign in,
create a username --

00:17:48.827 --> 00:17:51.488
note that this particular username
is already taken.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:51.512 --> 00:17:53.370
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:53.394 --> 00:17:55.555
You'll take a tutorial
and you'll start work.

00:17:55.579 --> 00:17:56.994
I want to note at the outset

00:17:57.018 --> 00:18:01.113
that in no way will be sharing
GPS data or mapping data for sites.

00:18:01.137 --> 00:18:03.640
We want to treat them
like human patient data,

00:18:03.664 --> 00:18:05.427
and not reveal their locations.

00:18:05.997 --> 00:18:10.219
You'll then be dealt a card from a deck --
20 x 20 meters or 30 x 30 meters,

00:18:10.243 --> 00:18:12.465
and you'll be looking for features.

00:18:12.489 --> 00:18:14.459
My team and I will have batch-processed

00:18:14.483 --> 00:18:16.986
large amounts of satellite data
using algorithms

00:18:17.010 --> 00:18:18.553
in order for you to find things,

00:18:18.577 --> 00:18:20.452
so you'll be doing really good science.

00:18:20.476 --> 00:18:22.042
You'll then be starting to look.

00:18:22.066 --> 00:18:23.988
What do you see? Do you see a temple?

00:18:24.012 --> 00:18:26.948
Do you see a tomb? Do you see a pyramid?

00:18:26.972 --> 00:18:30.504
Do you see any potential
site damage or site looting?

00:18:30.528 --> 00:18:32.634
You'll then begin to mark what's there.

00:18:32.658 --> 00:18:36.152
And off to the side are always
going to be rich examples

00:18:36.176 --> 00:18:39.121
of exactly what you're seeing,
to help guide you.

00:18:39.145 --> 00:18:43.592
All the data that you help us collect
will be shared with vetted authorities,

00:18:43.616 --> 00:18:46.812
and will help create
a new global alarm system

00:18:46.836 --> 00:18:48.615
to help protect sites.

00:18:49.552 --> 00:18:51.476
But it's not just going to stop there.

00:18:52.668 --> 00:18:55.662
All the archaeologists with whom
we share your discoveries

00:18:55.686 --> 00:18:59.416
will take you with them
as they begin to excavate them,

00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.602
by using Periscope, Google Plus
and social media.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:05.398 --> 00:19:08.452
A hundred years ago,
archaeology was for the rich.

00:19:09.469 --> 00:19:11.180
Fifty years ago,

00:19:11.204 --> 00:19:12.382
it was for men.

00:19:12.855 --> 00:19:15.128
Now it's primarily for academics.

00:19:15.859 --> 00:19:20.510
Our goal is to democratize the process
of archaeological discovery,

00:19:20.534 --> 00:19:23.095
and allow anyone to participate.

00:19:24.070 --> 00:19:26.063
Ninety-four years ago,

00:19:26.087 --> 00:19:28.877
Howard Carter discovered
the tomb of King Tut.

00:19:30.090 --> 00:19:32.036
Who is the next Howard Carter?

00:19:33.723 --> 00:19:35.075
It might be you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:38.098 --> 00:19:39.706
By creating this platform,

00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:44.455
we will find the millions of places
occupied by the billions of people

00:19:44.479 --> 00:19:45.905
that came before us.

00:19:46.710 --> 00:19:49.912
If we want to answer
the big questions about who we are

00:19:49.936 --> 00:19:51.197
and where we've come from,

00:19:51.221 --> 00:19:55.660
the answers to those questions
do not lie in pyramids or palaces,

00:19:55.684 --> 00:19:59.732
but in the cities and villages
of those that came before us.

00:20:00.561 --> 00:20:03.152
If we want to learn about the past,

00:20:03.176 --> 00:20:05.594
it's time we inverted the pyramids.

00:20:07.278 --> 00:20:10.798
Acknowledging that the past
is worth saving

00:20:10.822 --> 00:20:12.362
means so much more.

00:20:13.712 --> 00:20:17.279
It means that we're worth saving, too.

00:20:18.386 --> 00:20:21.998
And the greatest story ever told

00:20:22.950 --> 00:20:26.080
is the story of our shared human journey.

00:20:27.532 --> 00:20:30.825
But the only way we're going
to be able to write it

00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:33.720
is if we do it together.

00:20:35.270 --> 00:20:36.483
Come with me.

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:36.958 --> 00:20:38.110
Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:20:38.134 --> 00:20:41.834
(Applause)