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"Space Archeology" Uncovers Lost Pyramids
krou writes "A new technique dubbed 'space archeology' using satellites and infra-red imaging has helped uncover 17 new pyramids in Egypt, as well as some 1,000 tombs, and 3,000 ancient settlements. The mud bricks used to build Egyptian structures means it has a different density to the surrounding soil, and thus shows up in the images. Dr Sarah Parcak, who pioneered the technique, said that 'Indiana Jones is old school, we've moved on from Indy, sorry Harrison Ford.'"
should be goodbye-dr.-jones dept
Dr Sarah Parcak should study her history - because she's "pioneered" a technique first used in the 30's from aircraft and more recently from any number of orbital platforms.
Stargate Command had this covered years ago. Nothing new.
Jaffa... KREE.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Talk about old and buried- NASA Archeological Remote Sensing. Adobe PageMill 2.0!
my deep space radar telemetry studies?
Archeologist Dr. Sarah Parcak should study her history. I saw what you did there :)
Al-way know that there were more on earth that we can see from space, let the world get some insight!
So when will we finally find the place Mr. Jones missed on his quests for the Holy Grail?
Sounds legit.
Divide a cake by zero. Is it still a cake?
If only we could use similar technology to uncover new satellites and infrared imaging gear in outer space, think of the money we could save on rocket fuel.
Dr. Jones Dr. Jones, calling Dr. Jones, Dr. Jones, Dr. Jones wake up now (Wake up now).
She won't be so smug when Mola Ram is trying to rip her heart out or she awakens Imhotep and people like Indiana Jones and Rick O'Connell have been put out of a job.
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OLD....
'Indiana Jones is old school, we've moved on from Indy, sorry Harrison Ford.'
I'm calling bullshit on this. Once the sites have been pinpointed from space someone still has to go in and do the dirty work. If fact, it sounds like the ideal sequel:
'Dr Jones, you probably heard we've located a previously unknown ancient settlement using satellite technology. However, what you probably haven't heard is that this settlement displays a very unusual feature that has completely flummoxed our scientists...'
A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist...
"and more recently from any number of orbital platforms."
You mean.... the deathstar?!
Ancient structures have been detected from space for at least thirty years. Techniques may improve but this has been going on for quite some time. There is nothing new about it.
I patented the technique of finding pyramids from space years ago! Time to sue them for damages.
I didn't. WTF are you saying?!?
Damn, I hate you AC posers.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
"pin-point objects less than 1m in diameter on the earth's surface".
I guess it means it can pinpoint most Americans.
Even if it isn't entirely new, it's been used very effectively here, with the uncovering of so much archaeological material to study it'll keep archaeologists occupied for decades. And this was just the first run. I'm very excited about what else will be uncovered, now that someone finally bothered to use this methode, be it old or new.
Site & blog: http://www.mayaposch.com
A satellite detected an object under the sands of the Great Desert. An expedition was sent...
It's a weak pun : archaeologist/history...
So... the technology has existed for 80 years and yet she and her team are the ones who are finding the pyramids? I think they deserve just a little kudos... i'm betting that they had to do a bit of work to make the technology be able to find the pyramids they found.
squish, squish, squish goes the cock in the vag
Dr Sarah Parcak should study her history - because she's "pioneered" a technique first used in the 30's from aircraft and more recently from any number of orbital platforms.
Absolutely! She should, for example, read the 28-page historical introduction and 32-page bibliography of the excellent book Satellite remote sensing for archaeology by... oh look, it's by Dr Sarah Parcak. Turns out she literally wrote the book on this stuff. Seriously, do you think she's spent a scientific career doing this work without bothering to check what's been done before? If someone is a "Dr", they have written a doctoral dissertation, which means they know how to review literature.
Yes, the BBC article (not the researcher) used the word "pioneered". I imagine there must be some pioneering about work that located several thousand hitherto unknown structures and seventeen pyramids. (If it's all old hat, why didn't someone find them "in the 30's from aircraft?") Even if it's not "pioneering", the fault is with the reporter who chose to use that word.
Sure-fire recipe for a snarky Slashdot reply: if it's successful work building on previous accomplishments, say "huh, that's not new, she's just repeating what someone else did". If it's groundbreaking work previously unachieved by anyone else, say "huh, that's just ivory-tower tinkering, nobody's replicated it and it'll never work in the real world".
We have top men working on it right now.
Who?
Top men.
How high up?
100 miles up...in Low earth orbit.
I was under the impression that "old school" was usually used in a positive sense.
I think that it's the use of the satellite to see under sand which distinguishes it. Since reading about the history of deforestation, e.g. how Turkey had been covered with sequoia-sized trees, I've wondered if all deserts (like the Sahara) have human civilization as a contributor or cause. It will be interesting to see if they find ancient cities in places we don't know about, buried in the Sahara, the Gobi, Arizona...
Gently reply
Next are the Prothean ruins.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
I'm currently reading the book Sky Walking by astronaut Tom Jones, who relates, among other mission details and adventures, some of the scientific experiments performed by his crew on the Space Shuttle during the early 1990s. In his book, Mr. Jones talks about how they used a new satellite radar imaging systems to not only measure and map the entire Earth, but as an archeology tool to uncover old ruins and buried landmarks.
If this is the same, it's been going on for at least 15 years.
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
SAR satellite images (radar images) have been used for a long long time to locate Mayan pyramids.
Slightly off topic but related to the technology and all that.
.... if 20th-21st century archaeologists hadn't dug everything up thinking they were being helpful. :)
I often imagine archaeologists 300 years in the future angry because they're able to put a couple of little probes in the ground, run some quick scans, collect every conceivable iota of data on what's in the ground and how it got there, and then use computers to generate simulations of the entire history of the location with amazing accuracy.... well they would be able to
Sure-fire recipe for a snarky Slashdot reply: if it's successful work building on previous accomplishments, say "huh, that's not new, she's just repeating what someone else did". If it's groundbreaking work previously unachieved by anyone else, say "huh, that's just ivory-tower tinkering, nobody's replicated it and it'll never work in the real world".
Other people have pointed that out in a much better way.
(You knew that was coming, right?)
Omnes tuae crepidines sunt nobis sunt. Ascendo tuum!
They've move on from grave robbing Ancient Egypt? Good for them!
How does this help me get my porn more efficiently?
Omnes tuae crepidines sunt nobis sunt. Ascendo tuum!
I thought I'd heard something about this before on a TV documentary a while ago, but with Mayan ruins. I found a link. Now I'm not saying she didn't pioneer the technique or whatever, since apparently she's been working on stuff like this since at least 2004, but it seems to me like these people should work together (if they're not already).
Actually Dr. Tom Sever at NASA has been doing this from a while now, although he tends to work almost exclusively in South America.
So when do we summon the predators and awaken the queen and see a deathmatch take place in a buried pyramid in the antartic?
The choices are:
1. Conspiracy theorists who get this wrong and claim that these artifacts were found on another moon or satellite.
2. Conspiracy theorists who get it right, but claim that things were found which have been hushed up because scientists "can't explain them."
Bets are on which ones will get more air time. Who's in?
My money's on the second. The first might have some initial popularity, but that will wane quickly as corrections are hastily issued. Then the second will take hold for the long run.
Omnes tuae crepidines sunt nobis sunt. Ascendo tuum!
no stargate reference - and you call yourselves nerds!
Satellite photography including radar and infrared exposures have been used to detect agricultural and "urban" structures of all ages for decades. Almost the complete reconstruction and research of wooden settlements, pole buildings and the great migrations, even reconstructions of defense lines in the 30 years war are mostly based on air and satellite imaging. Every first semester in archiceture or archeology could tell you a lot more about that, than the article does.
Oh, the beautiful gloss of greality!
Because she'd look silly in a fedora and she can't handle a whip.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Awesome to hear that there might be even more treasure from our past which could bring us one step closer to really knowing where we all came from....
While this is cool, their example of Tanis isn't that novel...
We already have been spotting sites from the air for decades (aerial photos/flyovers). You can clearly see the streets on Google Maps where the different densities in the grounds creates variation in the vegetation than can be seen from the air:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=san+el+hagar+egypt&aq=&sll=25.720735,10.766602&sspn=32.396422,67.631836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=San+el+Hagar,+Sharkeya,+Egypt&ll=30.969668,31.886766&spn=0.001902,0.004128&t=h&z=19
oh my bad. i went off on her in my response........
but she still a bitch!
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
indiana jones had a gem that could turn regular sunlight into a bright ruby laser and pinpoint hidden artifacts on a miniature city made of legos
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
There have been other discoveries of significance. For example, Israeli scientists used satellite imagery to find a canal that figures in the story of the Exodus. The canal runs from Lake Balah to Lake Timsah, and was probably built as a military earthwork. According to the scientists, the south end of Lake Timsah qualifies today for the name "Yam Suf" (Sea of Reeds, the place name often erroneously translated as "Red Sea") and the place where pharoah's army was destroyed is Pi Hachirot, literally "mouth of the canal."
I agree. They found something that wasn't known to them before, the fact that it's not brand new technology shouldn't detract from that accomplishment. Even if the extent of the work was just saying "hey, let's use those satellites to look for pyramids!" and spending years filling out all the requisite paperwork I'd still be impressed.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
Did they find any big honkin' space guns? Magnets? How about a big ring-shaped thingy with funny symbols all over it?
Just saying.
I'm not going to pretend that I know much about archeology, but this location they're talking about clearly shows the same city in the aerial photos. What's the deal with that? This must not be a new find?
show geometric shapes in that same area on their pics?
Looks like a lot of that was already visible. I am sure there is a crystal skull there somewhere
Did they find any stone with 'Hiigara' etched on it?
I wonder how much progress is being made on using similar technologies for detecting buried landmines so they can be safely removed.
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
In Saudi Arabia, and most of the middle east, it has prohibited the use of aerial photography which includes satalite based version. To enforce this they just don't issue the archaeology licences to people who do this. That however doesn't stop someone else from using google earth to do it. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20032043-501465.html I suspect part of this is because of the change of government in Egypt which has allowed this type of research to slip though.
80 years? Pfff...
The ancient Egyptians knew they were there thousands of years ago, they must be smarter than you and Dr. Parcak put together.
Satellite imaging has been and is being used in Central America for Maya and other hidden pyramids by the jungle.
Check online for the PBS show NOVA and Watch Nova online.
Archeologists used balloons as early as 1870s to photograph hidden topography in landscapes.
The really novelty is so much public domain satellite imagery that anyone look for hidden structures.
Israeli scientists used satellite imagery to find a canal that figures in the story of the Exodus.
With the minor caveat that there's no evidence that Isrealites were ever enslaved in Egypt en masse, making the whole thing rather moot (as if the supernatural parting of waters wasn't reason enough). Trying to match a fictional account with historical landmarks is little different than repurposing our telescopes to search for Pandora which, I feel I should mention, would be ridiculous.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Am I the only one who searched for Homeworld intro when I read this?
There is very good evidence that the Israelites were in Egypt. Many of their names are Egyptian. There are also Egyptian descriptions of the plagues and of the destruction of pharoah's army. See http://jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/363/363_dayenufinal.pdf for details.
I didn't RTFA, but this sounds very similar to what has been used to find ruins, I think Mayan ruins, that have been covered up by jungle.
It was covered in a PBS show, I think a Nova episode.
Sounds like they may need some sort of space smuggler with a fast ship. I wonder who could pull off that role in a movie...
Oh, is she like the Ph.D's at my mom's work? The ones who send her email worms, chain letters, and forwarded hoaxes?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
If someone wanted to do a real life Space Age Indiana Jones documentary, they should check out the life and times of Dr. Tom Sever, of NASA. I was lucky enough to sit in on some informal debriefs, after he had returned from jungle adventures in the 80's and 90's. He discovered "lost" cities using satellite imagery, and managed to stay one step ahead of treasure hunters and guerillas - most of the time. One technique used was to detect foot paths from hundreds to thousands of years ago that all came together at a central location. There was much concern within NASA and archeological circles of keeping the sites secret, to avoid looting. Best I remember, he estimated it would take hundreds of years to investigate each of the sites discovered (by then) using all available archeologists.
I think I've seen part of that same show. However, if I remember correctly, it wasn't really the same technique. They were only looking at the color of the vegetation, which is different near the ruins (due to different soil there), and easily detected from aerial photos.
From a secular perspective, the historicity of the Bible is only relevant inasmuch as it provides an accurate description of events, which it clearly does not. There are chronological, archeological, logistical, and of course, physical issues which contradict available evidence. The Bible lacks both specificity and contemporaneousness; it tells us not about the historical lives of people in the late Iron Age, but about a (likely substantially) imagined history of those people which, at best, must have suffered from changes both intentional and unintentional in the centuries between its origin as oral tradition and whenever it was finally written down.
From a religious perspective, the historicity of the Bible is completely irrelevant, as the basis of religion is faith, not evidence. If religion were about evidence, God would simply reveal himself on a continual basis to remove any doubt rather than relying, in whole or in part, on the notoriously dubious ability of man to present an accurate record of events.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The Bible is compiled from a variety of materials. Some do indeed provide as accurate a description of events as is possible, given that parts of the material likely represent oral traditions handed down and later committed to writing. Of course, all history is written from a perspective and all documents, ancient and modern, are written for a purpose that may not have historical accuracy as a major priority.
Some parts of the Bible are legal and ethical in nature, others are writings regarded as having philosophical or historical merit. However, regardless of the nature of the material, there are nuggets of historical content found in numerous places.
Hmmm.... Well, since people from space built the pyramids, it only seems logical that we would re-discover them from space. Anybody seen my DHD?
+1 : well said
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
Academics are so entertaining on computers
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.