The most astounding place I've ever been is the Mosquitia Rain Forest in Honduras.

我去過最驚人的地方 是宏都拉斯的莫斯基蒂亞雨林。

I've done archaeological fieldwork all over the world,

我在世界各地做過考古實地考察，

so I thought I knew what to expect venturing into the jungle,

所以我以為我知道 在叢林中冒險會發生什麼，

but I was wrong.

但我錯了。

For the first time in my life, I might add.

但我要補充一點， 這是我一生中第一次錯。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

First of all, it's freezing.

首先，天氣很冷。

It's 90 degrees, but you're soaking wet from the humidity,

氣溫是攝氏 32 度， 但濕氣太重讓你全身濕透，

and the canopy of trees is so thick that sunlight never reaches the surface.

樹冠太濃密，以致陽光從未到達地面。

You can't get dry.

你身上的水乾不了。

Immediately, I knew that I hadn't brought enough clothing.

我馬上知道我帶的衣服不夠。

That first night, I kept feeling things moving underneath my hammock,

第一天晚上，我一直感覺 有東西在我的吊床下面移動，

unknown creatures brushing and poking against the thin nylon fabric.

未知的生物在薄尼龍織物上又蹭又搓，

And I could barely sleep through all the noise.

噪音太多，我幾乎睡不著。

The jungle is loud. It's shockingly loud.

叢林裡很吵，嚇人的吵，

It's like being downtown in a bustling city.

簡直像在大城市嘈雜的市中心一樣。

As the night wore on,

來到夜裡，

I became increasingly frustrated with my sleeplessness,

失眠讓我越來越煩躁，

knowing I had a full day ahead.

因為明天有一整天的事要做。

When I finally got up at dawn,

當我終於在黎明時分起床時，

my sense of unseen things was all too real.

我在夜裡感覺到的東西都是真的。

There were hoofprints, paw prints,

到處都是蹄印、爪印、 蛇爬過的線條痕跡。

linear snake tracks everywhere.

更令人震驚的是，

And what's even more shocking,

我們在白天看到同樣的動物，

we saw those same animals in the daylight,

牠們完全不怕我們。

and they were completely unafraid of us.

牠們沒有和人接觸的經驗，

They had no experience with people.

沒有理由害怕。

They had no reason to be afraid.

當我走向那個沒有歷史紀錄的城市時，

As I walked toward the undocumented city, my reason for being there,

我意識到這是唯一

I realized that this was the only place that I had ever been

完全沒看到半點塑膠的地方，

where I didn't see a single shred of plastic.

可見得那裡有多偏僻。

That's how remote it was.

也許令人驚訝的是，

Perhaps it's surprising to learn

我們星球上還有一些 人類還沒糟蹋過的地方，

that there are still places on our planet that are so untouched by people,

但這是真的。

but it's true.

還有無數的地方， 人們幾個世紀或可能從未涉足。

There are still hundreds of places where people haven't stepped for centuries

在這時代當考古學家太棒了。

or maybe forever.

我們有工具和技術

It's an awesome time to be an archaeologist.

用前所未有的方式來理解我們的星球。

We have the tools and the technology

然而，我們的時間不多了。

to understand our planet like never before.

氣候危機有可能摧毀 我們的生態和文化遺產。

And yet, we're running out of time.

我對工作感到一種急迫感，

The climate crisis threatens to destroy our ecological and cultural patrimony.

這是 20 年前我感覺不到的。

I feel an urgency to my work

我們要如何在為時已晚之前 記錄一切呢？

that I didn't feel 20 years ago.

我接受的是傳統考古學家訓練，

How can we document everything before it's too late?

用的方法是從 50 年代傳下來的。

I was trained as a traditional archaeologist

2009 年 7 月在墨西哥米卻肯州時，

using methodologies that have been around since the '50s.

那一切都改變了。

That all changed in July of 2009

我正在研究古代的普雷佩查帝國，

in Michoacán, Mexico.

這是一個和阿茲特克同時期、 一樣重要卻鮮為人知的帝國。

I was studying the ancient Purépecha Empire,

在那兩週前，我的團隊 記錄了一個未知的部落，

which is a lesser known but equally important contemporary

所以我們費盡心思地 徒手繪製建築物地基的地圖，

of the Aztec.

而且有好幾百個。

Two weeks earlier, my team had documented an unknown settlement,

基本考古程序是先找到部落的邊緣，

so we were painstakingly mapping, building foundations by hand --

先對挖掘對象有個概念，

hundreds of them.

我的研究生說服我這樣做。

Basic archaeological protocol is to find the edge of a settlement

於是，我抓起幾個營養棒、 一些水、一個無線對講機，

so you know what you're dealing with,

然後我獨自步行出發，

and my graduate students convinced me to do just that.

期待在幾分鐘內到達「邊緣」。

So I grabbed a couple of CLIF Bars, some water, a walkie,

幾分鐘過去了。

and I set out alone on foot,

然後一個小時。

expecting to encounter "the edge" in just a few minutes.

最後，我到達了瑪律派的另一邊。

A few minutes passed.

哦，有古老的建築地基貫穿。

And then an hour.

這是個城市？

Finally, I reached the other side of the malpais.

哇，糟了。

Oh, there were ancient building foundations all the way across.

（笑聲）

It's a city?

這是一個城市。

Oh, shit.

原來，這個看似小的部落

(Laughter)

實際上是一個古老的巨型都會區，

It's a city.

面積 26 平方公里，

Turns out that this seemingly small settlement

建築地基與現代曼哈頓一樣多，

was actually an ancient urban megalopolis,

一個考古聚落如此之大，

26 square kilometers in size,

需要我幾十年的時間 才能全面勘測完畢，

with as many building foundations as modern-day Manhattan,

可能要花我餘生的整個職業生涯，

an archaeological settlement so large

但我就是不想這樣 度過我剩下的職業生涯

that it would take me decades to survey fully,

（笑聲）

the entire rest of my career,

——揮汗如雨， 精疲力竭，

which was exactly how I didn't want to spend the entire rest of my career --

安撫緊張的研究生——

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

sweating, exhausted,

扔花生醬加果醬三明治安撫野狗，

placating stressed-out graduate students --

告訴你，那一點也沒用。

(Laughter)

因為墨西哥的狗真的不喜歡花生醬。

tossing scraps of PB and J sandwiches

（笑聲）

to feral dogs,

光是想就覺得無聊到要哭了。

which is pointless, by the way,

於是我回到了科羅拉多，

because Mexican dogs really don't like peanut butter.

我探頭到同事的門裡，對他說：

(Laughter)

「老兄，一定有更好的辦法。」

Just the thought of it bored me to tears.

他問我是否聽說過名為 雷射雷達（LiDAR）的新技術——

So I returned home to Colorado,

光探測和測距。

and I poked my head through a colleague's door.

我查了一下。

"Dude, there's gotta be a better way."

雷射雷達是從飛機射出 密集的雷射脈衝到地面。

He asked if I had heard of this new technology called LiDAR --

得到的結果是地表和其上的 所有東西的高解析度掃描圖。

Light Detection And Ranging.

它不是照片，

I looked it up.

而是一個密集的點構成的立體圖。

LiDAR involves shooting a dense grid of laser pulses

我們的掃描計畫有足夠的錢，

from an airplane to the ground's surface.

所以我們就那麼做了。

What you end up with is a high-resolution scan

公司派人去了墨西哥，

of the earth's surface and everything on it.

讓雷射雷達飛過場址，

It's not an image,

然後傳回數據。

but instead it's a dense, three-dimensional plot of points.

在接下來的幾個月裡， 我學會了在電腦上去掉森林，

We had enough money in the scan,

過濾掉樹木、刷子和其他植被，

so we did just that.

以揭示下面的古文明景觀。

The company went to Mexico,

當我看著我做出來的第一個影像，

they flew the LiDAR

我哭了，

and they sent back the data.

我知道你一定覺得不可思議，

Over the next several months, I learned to practice digital deforestation,

因為我這麼有男子氣概，怎麼會哭。

filtering away trees, brush and other vegetation

（笑聲）

to reveal the ancient cultural landscape below.

在 45 分鐘的飛行中，

When I looked at my first visualization,

雷射雷達收集的數據量

I began to cry,

和我們花幾十年人工收集的一樣多：

which I know comes as quite a shock to you,

每一個房子的地基、

given how manly I must seem.

建築物、道路和金字塔，

(Laughter)

辨識出令人難以置信的細節，

In just 45 minutes of flying,

代表了成千上萬在這些空間裡

the LiDAR had collected the same amount of data

生、愛、死的人的生活。

as what would have taken decades by hand:

更重要的是，數據的品質

every house foundation,

不是傳統考古研究可相提並論的。

building, road and pyramid,

好很多很多。

incredible detail,

我當時就知道這項技術 將改變整個考古學領域的未來，

representing the lives of thousands of people

果真如此。

who lived and loved and died in these spaces.

我們的作品引起了 一群電影製作人的注意，

And what's more, the quality of the data

他們正在尋找宏都拉斯 一個傳奇的失落城市。

wasn't comparable to traditional archaeological research.

他們失敗了，

It was much, much better.

但他們卻用雷射雷達 記錄了一種未知的文明，

I knew that this technology would change the entire field of archaeology

埋藏在一座原始雨林。

in the coming years,

我同意幫助他們解讀數據，

and it did.

這就是為何我發現自己 深陷莫斯基蒂亞叢林。

Our work came to the attention of a group of filmmakers

這裡沒有塑膠的蹤跡， 而且充滿了好奇的動物。

who were searching for a legendary lost city in Honduras.

我們的目標是驗證我們在雷射雷達中

They failed in their quest,

識別的考古遺跡

but they instead documented an unknown culture,

確實在地面上，

now buried under a pristine wilderness rain forest,

而它們真的在那裡。

using LiDAR.

十一個月後，我帶著國家地理學會

I agreed to help interpret their data,

和宏都拉斯政府贊助的 一組考古學家回來了。

which is how I found myself deep in that Mosquitia jungle,

在一個月內，我們 從我們現在所說的美洲虎城

plastic-free and filled with curious animals.

挖掘出 400 多件文物。

Our goal was to verify that the archaeological features

我們覺得自己有道德和倫理責任 來保護這個遺跡的原貌，

we identified in our LiDAR

但我們在那裡的那段狠的短的時間內，

were actually there on the ground,

事情不可避免地改變了。

and they were.

我們第一次降落直升機的 石礫小淺灘不見了。

Eleven months later, I returned with a crack team of archaeologists

灌木叢被清除，樹木被移走，

sponsored by the National Geographic Society

來建造一個可同時讓 數架直升機降落的停機坪。

and the Honduran government.

沒有它，

In a month, we excavated over 400 objects

只過了一個雨季，

from what we now call the City of the Jaguar.

我們在雷射雷達掃描中 看到的古運河

We felt a moral and ethical responsibility to protect this site as it was,

就已經損壞或摧毀了。

but in the short time that we were there,

我描述的伊甸園 很快就有一個大的空地、

things inevitably changed.

中央營地，

The tiny gravel bar where we first landed our helicopter was gone.

燈光

The brush had been cleared away and the trees removed

和一個室外教堂。

to create a large landing zone for several helicopters at once.

換句話說，儘管我們盡了最大的努力 來保護遺跡的原貌，

Without it,

事情還是變了。

after just one rainy season,

我們最初對美洲豹城的雷射雷達掃描

the ancient canals that we had seen in our LiDAR scan

是這個地方唯一的記錄， 幾年前它還存在。

were damaged or destroyed.

廣義而言，

And the Eden I described soon had a large clearing,

這對考古學家來說是個問題。

central camp,

我們不能研究一個地區 而完全不改變它，

lights

不管怎樣， 地球也在改變。

and an outdoor chapel.

考古遺址被摧毀。

In other words, despite our best efforts to protect the site as it was,

歷史消失了。

things changed.

就在今年，我們驚恐地 看著聖母院大教堂起火。

Our initial LiDAR scan of this City of the Jaguar

標誌性的教堂塔尖倒塌了，

is the only record of this place as it existed just a few years ago.

屋頂整個毀壞了。

And broadly speaking,

奇蹟似的，藝術史學家 安德魯·塔隆和他的同事

this is a problem for archaeologists.

在 2010 年使用雷射雷達 掃描了大教堂。

We can't study an area without changing it somehow,

當時，他們的目標 是要了解建築是如何建造的。

and regardless, the earth is changing.

現在，他們的雷射雷達掃描圖 是大教堂面貌最完整的記錄，

Archaeological sites are destroyed.

它將在教堂重建時最具參考價值。

History is lost.

他們不可能預料到火災

Just this year, we watched in horror

或當初的掃描會有什麼用處，

as the Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames.

但我們很幸運有它。

The iconic spire collapsed,

我們理所當然地認為 我們的文化和生態遺產

and the roof was all but destroyed.

將永遠存在。

Miraculously, the art historian Andrew Tallon and colleagues

不會的。

scanned the cathedral in 2010 using LiDAR.

像 SCI-Arc 和虛擬奇觀這樣的組織

At the time, their goal was to understand how the building was constructed.

正在進行不可思議的工作

Now, their LiDAR scan is the most comprehensive record of the cathedral,

來記錄世界歷史古跡，

and it'll prove invaluable in the reconstruction.

但是地球景觀卻沒有什麼類似的。

They couldn't have anticipated the fire

我們失去了 50% 的雨林。

or how their scan would be used,

我們每年損失 7.3 萬 平方公里的森林。

but we're lucky to have it.

海平面上升將使城市、國家和大洲

We take for granted that our cultural and ecological patrimony

全無法辨認。

will be around forever.

除非我們有這些地方的記錄，

It won't.

否則將來沒有人會知道 這些地方曾經存在。

Organizations like SCI-Arc and Virtual Wonders

如果地球是鐵達尼號，

are doing incredible work

我們已經撞上冰山，

to record the world's historic monuments,

每個人都在甲板上，

but nothing similar exists for the earth's landscapes.

管弦樂隊還在演奏。

We've lost 50 percent of our rain forests.

氣候危機有可能在幾十年內 摧毀我們的文化和生態遺產。

We lose 18 million acres of forest every year.

但什麼也不做是不行的。

And rising sea levels will make cities, countries and continents

難道我們不該在救生艇上 保存一切嗎?

completely unrecognizable.

（掌聲）

Unless we have a record of these places,

看看我在宏都拉斯和墨西哥的掃描，

no one in the future will know they existed.

很明顯，我們現在需要盡可能 不停掃描、掃描、掃描，

If the earth is the Titanic,

趁我們還做得到的時候盡量掃描。

we've struck the iceberg,

這就是啟發「地球檔案館」 的靈感來源，

everyone's on deck

這是一次史無前例的科學努力，

and the orchestra is playing.

從威脅最嚴重的地區開始，

The climate crisis threatens to destroy our cultural and ecological patrimony

對整個地球進行雷射雷達掃描。

within decades.

目的有三個。

But sitting on our hands and doing nothing

第一、建立地球今天存在的基線記錄，

is not an option.

以更有效地緩解氣候危機。

Shouldn't we save everything we can on the lifeboats?

要測量變化，您需要兩組數據：

(Applause)

測量前和測量後的數據。

Looking at my scans from Honduras and Mexico,

現在，地球大部分測量前收集的數據，

it's clear that we need to scan, scan, scan

還沒有所謂的高解析度，

now as much as possible,

因此我們無法衡量變化，

while we still can.

也無法評估我們目前 為對抗氣候危機而做出的努力中，

That's what inspired the Earth Archive,

哪些正在產生積極的影響。

an unprecedented scientific effort

第二、建造一個虛擬行星，

to LiDAR-scan the entire planet,

以便讓任何科學家 都能研究今天的地球。

starting with areas that are most threatened.

像我這樣的考古學家 就可以尋找未知的部落。

Its purpose is threefold.

生態學家可以研究樹的大小、

Number one: create a baseline record of the earth as it exists today

森林的組成和年齡。

to more effectively mitigate the climate crisis.

地質學家可以研究水文、

To measure change, you need two sets of data:

斷層、地殼的擾動。

a before and an after.

可能性是無窮無盡的。

Right now, we don't have a high-resolution before data set

第三、為我們的子子孫孫 保存地球的記錄，

for much of the planet,

這樣他們將來就可以 重建和學習失去的文化遺產。

so we can't measure change,

隨著科學技術的進步，

and we can't evaluate which of our current efforts

他們將應用新的工具、演算法， 甚至人工智慧，

to combat the climate crisis

到現在的雷射雷達掃描，

are making a positive impact.

並提出我們目前還想不到的問題。

Number two: create a virtual planet

和聖母院一樣，

so that any number of scientists can study our earth today.

我們無法想像這些記錄會如何被運用。

Archaeologists like me can look for undocumented settlements.

但是我們知道，它們將至關重要。

Ecologists can study tree size,

地球檔案館是給後代子孫的終極禮物，

forest composition and age.

因為說實話，

Geologists can study hydrology,

我活得不夠久，看不到它的全部影響，

faults, disturbance.

你也看不到。

The possibilities are endless.

這正是值得做的原因。

Number three: preserve a record of the planet

地球檔案館是對人類未來的賭注。

for our grandchildren's grandchildren,

身為人類和科學家，

so they can reconstruct and study lost cultural patrimony in the future.

我們是地球生命共同體。

As science and technology advance,

當我們共同面對氣候危機時，

they'll apply new tools, algorithms,

要選擇做對的事情，

even AI to LiDAR scans done today,

為的不只是今天的我們自己，

and ask questions that we can't currently conceive of.

也是為了榮耀那些先驅，

Like Notre Dame,

並讓後代子孫

we can't imagine how these records will be used.

世世代代延續這項遺產。

But we know that they'll be critically important.

謝謝。

The Earth Archive is the ultimate gift to future generations,

（掌聲）

because the truth be told,

I won't live long enough to see its full impact,

and neither will you.

That's exactly why it's worth doing.

The Earth Archive is a bet on the future of humanity.

It's a bet that together,