Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe | Genevieve von Petzinger | TED

翻译人员: Yan Ge 校对人员: Gabriella Hu

There's something about caves --

我要说一些关于洞穴的事——

a shadowy opening in a limestone cliff that draws you in.

那些引人深入的 石灰岩峭壁上的阴暗开口。

As you pass through the portal between light and dark,

从明暗交界的入口处穿过，

you enter a subterranean world --

你便进入了一个地底世界,

那里永远昏暗，弥漫着泥土气息， 且异常安静。

a place of perpetual gloom, of earthy smells, of hushed silence.

Long ago in Europe,

很久以前，在欧洲，

ancient people also entered these underground worlds.

古代居民也进入过这些地底世界。

As witness to their passage,

作为途经那里的见证，

they left behind mysterious engravings and paintings,

他们留下了神秘的雕刻和图画，

like this panel of humans, triangles and zigzags from Ojo Guareña in Spain.

比如西班牙欧赫加莱尼亚 这块岩壁上的人形、三角和折线。

You now walk the same path as these early artists.

你正走在这些早期艺术家走过的道路上。

And in this surreal, otherworldly place,

在这个超现实的地方，

it's almost possible to imagine

你能够想象着自己

that you hear the muffled footfall of skin boots on soft earth,

听到了兽皮靴踏在柔软土地上 那隐约的脚步声，

or that you see the flickering of a torch around the next bend.

或者看到了下个转弯处忽隐忽现的火光。

When I'm in a cave,

当我身处洞穴之中，

I often find myself wondering what drove these people to go so deep

我总会不由自主地猜想

是什么吸引人们到如此深处？

to brave dangerous and narrow passageways to leave their mark?

是什么让他们在如此危险且狭窄的通道里 留下记号？

In this video clip,

接下来的这段录像

that was shot half a kilometer, or about a third of a mile, underground,

拍摄于地下500米深处，

in the cave of Cudon in Spain,

位于西班牙古登的一个洞穴之中。

we found a series of red paintings on a ceiling

我们在一个从未被探索的区域的洞顶

in a previously unexplored section of the cave.

发现了一系列红色的绘画。

As we crawled forward, military-style, with the ceiling getting ever lower,

我们在洞中匍匐前进， 洞顶越压越低，

we finally got to a point where the ceiling was so low

到最后，洞顶太低了，

我的丈夫兼摄影师戴伦 甚至无法用单反相机聚焦洞顶。

that my husband and project photographer, Dylan,

could no longer achieve focus on the ceiling with his DSLR camera.

So while he filmed me,

所以当他拍摄我的时候，

I kept following the trail of red paint with a single light

我只能带着单一光源 和一架为此准备的自动相机

and a point-and-shoot camera that we kept for that type of occasion.

沿着红色绘画的路线移动。

Half a kilometer underground.

地下500米深处。

Seriously.

说真的，人们带着火把或石灯 到底来这里做什么呢？

What was somebody doing down there with a torch or a stone lamp?

(Laughter)

（笑声）

当然，我的情况还是可以理解的。

I mean -- me, it makes sense, right?

But you know,

我的研究就是要试图回答这类问题。

this is the kind of question that I'm trying to answer with my research.

I study some of the oldest art in the world.

我研究几种世界上最古老的艺术。

It was created by these early artists in Europe,

一万至四万年前，

between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago.

欧洲早期的艺术家创造了它们。

And the thing is

我研究这些艺术并不仅仅因为其美感，

that I'm not just studying it because it's beautiful,

尽管某些作品确实非常美丽。

though some of it certainly is.

But what I'm interested in is the development of the modern mind,

我所感兴趣的， 是在人类独特性这一议题上，

of the evolution of creativity, of imagination, of abstract thought,

现代思想的发展，

以及人类创造力、想象力 和抽象思维的进化。

about what it means to be human.

While all species communicate in one way or another,

尽管所有物种在不同程度上都进行交流，

only we humans have really taken it to another level.

但只有人类的交流上升到了更高的层次。

Our desire and ability to share and collaborate

对于分享及合作的诉求和能力

has been a huge part of our success story.

是人类能够成功的主要原因。

Our modern world is based on a global network of information exchange

现代社会建立于全球信息交流网络之上，

made possible, in large part, by our ability to communicate --

这在很大程度上得益于我们交流的能力，

in particular, using graphic or written forms of communication.

具体来说， 就是运用图画和文字交流的能力。

The thing is, though,

然而，我们所倚赖的前人思想成就 有着太过久远的历史，

that we've been building on the mental achievements

of those that came before us for so long

that it's easy to forget that certain abilities haven't already existed.

以至于我们忘记这些能力并非与生俱来。

It's one of the things I find most fascinating

在研究人类历史的过程中，

about studying our deep history.

我所发现的最神奇的事情之一就是，

Those people didn't have the shoulders of any giants to stand on.

早期人类并没有巨人的肩膀可以站立。

They were the original shoulders.

他们自己就是巨人。

And while a surprising number of important inventions

在那个久远的时代出现了大量重要的发明，

come out of that distant time,

what I want to talk to you about today is the invention of graphic communication.

今天我所要讲的是图形交流的诞生。

There are three main types of communication,

交流有三种主要形式：

spoken, gestural -- so things like sign language --

语言，

动作——比如手语，

and graphic communication.

以及图形交流。

Spoken and gestural are by their very nature ephemeral.

语言和动作交流转瞬即逝，

It requires close contact for a message to be sent and received.

需要通过近距离接触来传递和接受信息。

And after the moment of transmission, it's gone forever.

信息被传送后，便永远地消失了。

Graphic communication, on the other hand, decouples that relationship.

而图形交流却将传递和接收分离开来。

And with its invention, it became possible for the first time

通过图形交流，

信息第一次超越了时空中的某一瞬间，

for a message to be transmitted and preserved

beyond a single moment in place and time.

被传递和保存下来。

Europe is one of the first places

欧洲是最早发现图形记号的地区之一。

that we start to see graphic marks regularly appearing

这些记号通常被发现于洞穴和石隙中，

in caves, rock shelters and even a few surviving open-air sites.

也有一些露天遗址被保存下来。

But this is not the Europe we know today.

但那时的欧洲和现在不同,

This was a world dominated by towering ice sheets,

放眼望去都是三、四千米高的冰原，

three to four kilometers high,

with sweeping grass plains and frozen tundra.

覆盖着大片的草原或冰冻苔原。

This was the Ice Age.

那时正是冰川时期。

Over the last century,

在上个世纪，

more than 350 Ice Age rock art sites have been found across the continent,

全球有350多个冰川时期 岩石艺术遗址被发现。

decorated with animals, abstract shapes and even the occasional human

岩石上雕刻着动物、抽象图形，甚至人类，

like these engraved figures from Grotta dell'Addaura in Sicily.

比如这些在西西里阿杜兰洞穴中的石刻。

They provide us with a rare glimpse

我们能从中窥见 这些早期艺术家的创造力和想象力。

into the creative world and imagination of these early artists.

Since their discovery,

这些石刻被发现后，

it's been the animals that have received the majority of the study

人们对其中的动物形象进行了大量研究，

like this black horse from Cullalvera in Spain,

比如这匹在西班牙库拉维拉被发现的黑马，

or this unusual purple bison from La Pasiega.

或是这只在拉帕西艾加 被发现的特别的紫色野牛。

But for me, it was the abstract shapes, what we call geometric signs,

然而，吸引我去研究这些艺术的，

是我们称为“几何符号”的抽象图形。

that drew me to study the art.

The funny this is that at most sites

有趣的是，在多数遗址中，

the geometric signs far outnumber the animal and human images.

几何符号的数量 远远超过了动物和人类的形象。

But when I started on this back in 2007,

但在2007年我开始从事这项研究时，

there wasn't even a definitive list of how many shapes there were,

甚至没有一份关于这些几何符号的明确清单，

nor was there a strong sense

也没有人强烈地意识到

of whether the same ones appeared across space or time.

是否同样的符号 曾在不同的时间或地点存在过。

Before I could even get started on my questions,

在着手研究我的问题之前，

my first step was to compile a database

我首先建立了一个数据库，

of all known geometric signs from all of the rock art sites.

包含了所有遗迹中 所发现的所有几何符号。

The problem was that while they were well documented at some sites,

尽管某些遗迹对这些符号进行了很好的记录，

usually the ones with the very nice animals,

通常是那些发现了漂亮动物图形的遗址，

there was also a large number of them where it was very vague --

但相当数量的记录都非常模糊不清，

there wasn't a lot of description or detail.

缺失了大量描述和细节。

Some of them hadn't been visited in half a century or more.

有些遗迹至少半个世纪无人问津了。

These were the ones that I targeted for my field work.

它们就是我实地调查的重点。

Over the course of two years,

两年间，

my faithful husband Dylan and I each spent over 300 hours underground,

我和我的丈夫戴伦 在地下呆了超过300小时，

hiking, crawling and wriggling around 52 sites

不断地行走、爬行、扭动着前进，

走遍了法国、西班牙、葡萄牙 和西西里的52处遗迹。

in France, Spain, Portugal and Sicily.

And it was totally worth it.

这些努力没有白费。

We found new, undocumented geometric signs at 75 percent of the sites we visited.

在75%的遗迹中， 我们发现了新的、未被记录的几何符号。

This is the level of accuracy I knew I was going to need

我知道，如果想要研究那些更宏观的问题，

if I wanted to start answering those larger questions.

这样的准确程度是必需的。

So let's get to those answers.

那我们就来看看答案吧。

Barring a handful of outliers, there are only 32 geometric signs.

排除少量离群值， 一共只有32种几何符号。

Only 32 signs

跨越三万年的时间，遍布整个欧洲，

across a 30,000-year time span and the entire continent of Europe.

只有32种。

That is a very small number.

这太少了。

Now, if these were random doodles or decorations,

如果这些符号是随意画下的，

we would expect to see a lot more variation,

应该会更多种多样，

but instead what we find are the same signs

然而，我们却看到同样的符号

repeating across both space and time.

在不同时间、不同地点被反复使用。

Some signs start out strong, before losing popularity and vanishing,

一些符号开始时被广泛应用， 后来逐渐消失；

while other signs are later inventions.

另一些符号则后来居上。

But 65 percent of those signs stayed in use during that entire time period --

但是，65%的符号被一直沿用，

things like lines, rectangles triangles, ovals and circles

比如直线、长方形、三角形、椭圆形和圆形，

like we see here from the end of the Ice Age,

就像我们在比利牛斯山脉 这个有一万年历史的冰川后期遗迹中所看到的。

at a 10,000-year-old site high in the Pyrenees Mountains.

And while certain signs span thousands of kilometers,

某些符号使用地域极广，

other signs had much more restricted distribution patterns,

另一些符号的传播则遵循一定的规律，

with some being limited to a single territory,

有些甚至仅局限于单一地区。

like we see here with these divided rectangles

比如我们看到的这些被分割的长方形，

that are only found in northern Spain,

就只出现在西班牙北部地区；

and which some researchers have speculated

一些学者猜测，

could be some sort of family or clan signs.

它们可能是某个宗族的标志。

On a side note,

顺便说一下，

there is surprising degree of similarity in the earliest rock art

在法国和西班牙发现的早期岩壁艺术

found all the way from France and Spain to Indonesia and Australia.

同在印度尼西亚和澳大利亚发现的岩壁艺术之间， 有着惊人的相似。

With many of the same signs appearing in such far-flung places,

相同的符号出现于如此广泛的地域，

especially in that 30,000 to 40,000-year range,

而且都出现在三万到四万年前，

it's starting to seem increasingly likely

所以图形的发明极有可能 追溯到非洲大陆上某一个共同的起源。

that this invention actually traces back to a common point of origin in Africa.

But that I'm afraid, is a subject for a future talk.

不过这是另一个话题了。

现在回到我们讨论的问题上来。

So back to the matter at hand.

There could be no doubt that these signs were meaningful to their creators,

这些符号对它们的创造者来说 无疑是有意义的，

like these 25,000-year-old bas-relief sculptures

比如这个有着25,000年历史的

from La Roque de Venasque in France.

发现于法国拉洛克德韦纳斯克的浅浮雕。

We might not know what they meant, but the people of the time certainly did.

我们或许不知道其意义， 但当时的人们肯定知道。

The repetition of the same signs, for so long, and at so many sites

同样的符号在漫长时间 和广阔地域里重复出现，

tells us that the artists were making intentional choices.

这说明艺术家们曾进行了有意的筛选。

If we're talking about geometric shapes,

说到有特定意义的、 被多种文化所认同的几何图形，

with specific, culturally recognized, agreed-upon meanings,

than we could very well be looking

我们就要好好研究一下 世界上最古老的图形交流系统之一。

at one of the oldest systems of graphic communication in the world.

I'm not talking about writing yet.

我说的并不是文字系统。

There's just not enough characters at this point

在那个时候，还没有足够的字符 去表达口语中的所有词汇，

to have represented all of the words in the spoken language,

也就无法建立一个完备的文字系统。

something which is a requirement for a full writing system.

我们也不能将这些符号等同于字母，

Nor do we see the signs repeating regularly enough

to suggest that they were some sort of alphabet.

因为它们的出现还不足够频繁。

But what we do have are some intriguing one-offs,

但是我们看到了一些 非常有趣的“独一无二”，

like this panel from La Pasiega in Spain, known as "The Inscription,"

比如发现于西班牙拉帕西亚加的 这块被称为“碑文”的岩壁。

with its symmetrical markings on the left,

它的左侧是对称图形，

possible stylized representations of hands in the middle,

中间的符号很可能代表双手，

and what looks a bit like a bracket on the right.

右边的图形则很像半边括号。

The oldest systems of graphic communication in the world --

世界上最古老的图形交流系统，

Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the earliest Chinese script,

苏美尔楔形文字、埃及象形文字、 最早的中国文字，

all emerged between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago,

都出现于4000到5000年前，

with each coming into existence from an earlier protosystem

而且每种文字的原型 都是更早期的计数符号和象形图画。

made up of counting marks and pictographic representations,

where the meaning and the image were the same.

所谓象形图画就是以图表意、图意同源，

So a picture of a bird would really have represented that animal.

比如鸟的图画就是代表鸟这种动物。

It's only later that we start to see these pictographs become more stylized,

后来这些象形图画才变得不那么写实，

until they almost become unrecognizable

直到无法辨识。

同时，人们发明了更多符号，

and that we also start to see more symbols being invented

to represent all those other missing words in language --

用来代表语言中的其他词汇，

things like pronouns, adverbs, adjectives.

比如代词、副词和形容词。

So knowing all this,

根据已知的情况，

it seems highly unlikely that the geometric signs from Ice Age Europe

我们认为在冰川时期欧洲诞生的这些几何符号

were truly abstract written characters.

几乎不可能是抽象的书写字符。

Instead, what's much more likely

它们更有可能是早期艺术家用以计数的符号。

is that these early artists were also making counting marks,

maybe like this row of lines from Riparo di Za Minic in Sicily,

比如这些在西西里 扎米尼克岩石遮蔽处发现的线条。

as well as creating stylized representations

当然，也可能是他们对周遭事物的抽象表达。

of things from the world around them.

Could some of the signs be weaponry or housing?

这些符号有可能代表武器或房屋吗？

Or what about celestial objects like star constellations?

又或者是代表星座之类的天体？

Or maybe even rivers, mountains, trees -- landscape features,

也有可能代表河流、山川、树木等地貌特征。

possibly like this black penniform surrounded by strange bell-shaped signs

比如，这些在西班牙埃尔卡斯蒂约发现的

被奇怪的钟形符号环绕的 黑色羽毛状图形。

from the site of El Castillo in Spain.

The term penniform means "feather-shaped" in Latin,

“penniform”在拉丁语里就是“羽毛状”的意思。

but could this actually be a depiction of a plant or a tree?

但它是不是也有可能代表草木或树木？

Some researchers have begun to ask these questions

一些学者已经着手研究 特定遗迹的某些特定符号，

about certain signs at specific sites,

but I believe the time has come to revisit this category as a whole.

但我认为现在应该 从整体上审视这些符号的分类。

The irony in all of this, of course,

当然，讽刺的是，

我们把所有符号 都仔细地分入到了单一类别之中。

is that having just carefully classified all of the signs into a single category,

I have a feeling that my next step will involve breaking it back apart

我想我下一步要做的就是

as different types of imagery are identified and separated off.

按照不同种类的意象将其重新划分。

Now don't get me wrong,

请不要误解我的意思，

the later creation of fully developed writing

此后完备的文字系统的出现，

was an impressive feat in its own right.

其本身就是一大创举。

But it's important to remember

但是要知道，

that those early writing systems didn't come out of a vacuum.

那些早期文字体系并非凭空出现。

And that even 5,000 years ago,

早在5000年前，

people were already building on something much older,

人们就已经受荫于前人的创造了。

with its origins stretching back tens of thousands of years --

这些创造可追溯到千百万年前，

to the geometric signs of Ice Age Europe and far beyond,

追溯到冰川时期欧洲的几何符号，乃至更早；

to that point, deep in our collective history,

在那个人类历史中遥远的瞬间，

when someone first came up with the idea of making a graphic mark,

某个人第一次想到要用图画来做标记，

and forever changed the nature of how we communicate.

他自此永远地改变了人类交流方式的本质。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）