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" 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
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" What if Hiram Bingham had the technology to find hundreds of other archaeological sites at the same time and create entire 3-D maps of the ancient landscape accurate to within a few inches? "
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" What is amazing to me as an archaeologist is that the more and more I study, I realize we are resilient, we are creative, we are brilliant, and this is what makes us human, and that hasn't changed since we've been human. "
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" What we did is we used NASA topography data to map out the landscape, very subtle changes. We started to be able to see where the Nile used to flow. "
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" 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
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" 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
" I give my grandfather, Dr Harold Young, a forestry Professor at the University of Maine, full credit for my career path. He pioneered the use of aerial photography in forestry in the 1950s, and we think he worked as a spy for the CIA during the Cold War, mapping Russian installations. "
Sarah Parcak
Photography
War
Think
" 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
" Itjtawy was ancient Egypt's capital for over four hundred years, at a period of time called the Middle Kingdom about four thousand years ago. The site is located in the Faiyum of Egypt, and the site is really important because in the Middle Kingdom there was this great renaissance for ancient Egyptian art, architecture and religion. "
Sarah Parcak
Religion
Architecture
Time
" 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
" 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
" '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
" 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
" 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
" We've got to map all of our ancient history before it's gone because, let's face it, if we don't have a common heritage to share, something to get excited about, then what are we living for? "
Sarah Parcak
History
Living
Face
" When you think about the scale of human populations all over the world and the fact that there's so much here, really, the only way to be able to visualize that is to pull back in space... It allows us to see hidden temples and tombs and pyramids and even entire settlements. "
Sarah Parcak
Back
Hidden
Space
" We have so many thousands of sites to find across the globe and new techniques to test. The field keeps evolving with the technology, which makes things exciting. "
Sarah Parcak
Things
Test
Technology
" Archaeology holds all the keys to understanding who we are and where we come from. "
Sarah Parcak
Archaeology
Come
Understanding
" In archaeology, context is everything. Objects allow us to reconstruct the past. Taking artifacts from a temple or an ancient private house is like emptying out a time capsule. "
Sarah Parcak
Temple
Time
House
" 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 imagery is the only way we can map the looting patterns effectively. "
Sarah Parcak
Patterns
Imagery
Way
" I've always loved teaching and reading and talking to people, and my grandfather was a professor. "
Sarah Parcak
Reading
People
Loved
" I am honored to receive the TED Prize, but it's not about me; it's about our field - and the thousands of men and women around the world, particularly in the Middle East, who are defending and protecting sites. "
Sarah Parcak
Men
World
I Am
" 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
" That's what I want to do, ultimately: figure out a way to get the world engaged with discovery and protecting these ancient sites. "
Sarah Parcak
Discovery
World
Way
" Discoveries aren't made by one person exploring by themselves. And discoveries aren't made overnight. People don't see the thousands of hours that go into it. "
Sarah Parcak
Exploring
Go
Person
" 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
" How do you find a buried city in a vast landscape? Finding it randomly would be the equivalent of locating a needle in a haystack, blindfolded, wearing baseball mitts. "
Sarah Parcak
You
Finding
Baseball
" When I was a child growing up in Maine, one of my favorite things to do was to look for sand dollars on the seashores of Maine, because my parents told me it would bring me luck. But you know, these shells, they're hard to find. They're covered in sand. They're difficult to see. "
Sarah Parcak
Parents
Me
Growing Up
" It's absolutely critical, you know, to train young men and women not just to find sites, but also to protect sites, especially in the wake of the Arab Spring. There's been significant site-looting in Egypt and elsewhere across the Middle East. "
Sarah Parcak
You
Train
Spring
" You just pull back for hundreds of miles using the satellite imagery, and all of a sudden this invisible world become visible. You're actually able to see settlements and tombs - and even things like buried pyramids - that you might not otherwise be able to see. "
Sarah Parcak
See
Invisible
Become