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" I am part of a network of people monitoring what's happening at ancient sites in Iraq and Syria - from space. We can see clearly the destruction. "
Sarah Parcak
Destruction
People
See
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" I hope my work contributes to understanding long-term patterns of human behavior and how we survive, thrive, or fail during times of environmental, social, and economic crisis. "
Sarah Parcak
Environmental
Hope
Work
" WorldView-3 goes into the mid-infrared wavelength, allowing you to see very subtle geological differences on the sites at a 0.4-metre resolution. "
Sarah Parcak
Resolution
Goes
Differences
" A picture is worth a thousand words. A satellite image is worth a million dollars. "
Sarah Parcak
Words
Image
Picture
" Satellites record data in different parts of the light spectrum that we can't see. And it's that information that allows satellites to be so powerful in terms of looking at things like vegetation health, finding different kinds of geology that may indicate an oil deposit or some kind of mineralogical deposit that can be mined. "
Sarah Parcak
Looking
Powerful
Data
" I dig in the sand, and I play with pretty pictures, so I never really left kindergarten. "
Sarah Parcak
Sand
Pictures
Dig
" When a wall is slowly covered over by earth, the materials it's made from decay and become part of the soils around and above it, sometimes causing vegetation above and next to the wall to grow faster or slower. Satellite imagery helps archaeologists to pick up these subtle changes. "
Sarah Parcak
Sometimes
Grow
Become
" A lot of people are surprised when I talk so much about the present, but politics is just a crucial part of archaeology. "
Sarah Parcak
Present
People
Just
" People were looting tombs 5,000 years ago in Egypt as soon as people were buried, but the problem is only getting worse and worse. "
Sarah Parcak
Problem
Only
Egypt
" I think archaeologists are stuck, and we are losing our past at a very rapid rate. Tens of thousands of sites will be lost, and we've only unveiled a tiny percent of the past. "
Sarah Parcak
Think
Will
Losing
" The looters are using Google Earth, too. They're coming in with metal detectors and geophysical equipment. Some ask me to confirm sites. "
Sarah Parcak
Google
Earth
Coming
" Imagery is powerful. Imagery is provocative - satellite imagery much more so because it is from space, and it allows us to get this perspective that we don't have to have otherwise. "
Sarah Parcak
Perspective
Space
Us
" If you really want to be a good archaeologist, you have to understand ancient DNA; you have to understand chemical analysis to figure out the composition of ancient pots. You have to be able to study human remains. You need to be able to do computer processing and, in some cases, computer programming. "
Sarah Parcak
You
Need
Good
" When people initially think of the term 'space archaeologist,' they think, 'Oh, it's someone who uses satellites to look for alien settlements on Mars or in outer space,' but the opposite is true - we're actually looking for evidence of past human life on planet earth. "
Sarah Parcak
Life
Think
Space
" With population pressures, urbanization, and modernization encroaching, we're in a race against time. Why not use the most advanced tools we have to map, quantify, and protect our past? "
Sarah Parcak
Tools
Map
Past
" I already find pyramids from space. Is there anything cooler than that? "
Sarah Parcak
Find
Pyramids
Than
" We have so many issues with overpopulation and urbanization and site looting. And this isn't just Egypt. This is everywhere in the world, even in America. So we only have a limited amount of time left before many archaeological sites all over the world are destroyed. "
Sarah Parcak
Time
Egypt
America
" I am one of many people documenting damage and looting at ancient sites from space - it is such a crucial tool. "
Sarah Parcak
Ancient
I Am
Many
" I've found numerous things - settlements, temples, possible pyramids, forts, roads - the list goes on and on. I'm not as interested in the discoveries as the types of questions they help us formulate. "
Sarah Parcak
Help
Us
Roads
" Seeing sites and features in places where we never looked or never thought things might exist is causing archaeologists across the world to think deeper about their sites or entire cultures. "
Sarah Parcak
Seeing
World
Thought
" There's always a little jump to your heart when you realize you've got looting. "
Sarah Parcak
Heart
Always
You
" We want to excite the world about what's out there. But we don't want them to say, 'Oh, there are lots of sites in Egypt - let's loot.' "
Sarah Parcak
World
Oh
Egypt
" I've always loved teaching and reading and talking to people, and my grandfather was a professor. "
Sarah Parcak
Reading
People
Loved
" We can tell from the imagery a tomb was looted from a particular period of time, and we can alert INTERPOL to watch out for antiquities from that time that may be offered for sale. "
Sarah Parcak
Time
Watch
Tell
" 'Satellite archaeology' refers to the use of NASA and commercial high resolution satellite datasets to map and discover past structures, cities, and geological features. "
Sarah Parcak
Past
Resolution
NASA
" We only have a limited amount of time left before many archaeological sites all over the world are destroyed. So we have to be really selective about where we dig. "
Sarah Parcak
Dig
Only
Over
" The most exciting part of what I do is understanding the scale of what we don't know. There are just countless archaeological sites all over the world, and one of the most important and best ways of finding them is using digital technology. "
Sarah Parcak
Technology
World
Understanding
" Before doing fieldwork in Middle Egypt, I analyzed satellite imagery to determine exactly where I wanted to go. Within three weeks, I found about 70 sites. If I had approached this as a traditional foot survey, it would have taken me three and a half years. "
Sarah Parcak
Me
Survey
Three
" The majority of the research I do is archaeological research, but to me, as a professor, the most important thing is to encourage and mentor students. "
Sarah Parcak
Mentor
Research
Most
" It's an important tool to focus where we're excavating. It gives us a much bigger perspective on archaeological sites. We have to think bigger, and that's what the satellites allow us to do. "
Sarah Parcak
Perspective
Think
Focus
" Less than 1 percent of ancient Egypt has been discovered and excavated. With population pressures, urbanization, and modernization encroaching, we're in a race against time. Why not use the most advanced tools we have to map, quantify, and protect our past? "
Sarah Parcak
Map
Egypt
Race