
Sarah Parcak, Space Archaeologist - petethomas
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sarah-parcak-space-archaeologist-1452887899
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trgn
This article is a little disingenuous in how it represent this as something
revolutionary.

Using remote sensing has a long and storied tradition in archaeology. The
archaeology department at my university regularly flew out to collect photos
of the region, and had been doing so since the seventies. Not to mention the
use of balloons and dirigibles in the dilettante era of the profession.

Calling this "space archaeology" is more of a smart rebranding of an
established practice. It is not a recent evolution in the profession, neither
is it something where “More and more people are realizing there’s this
incredible tool". But "space" sounds fancy. Second, framing this as a tool in
the battle against looting is typical of the TED minset. Grab yer technology
A, grab yer problem B, shake it up, and boom, new shticky hook to take on the
roadshow. It's like saying, hey, with email we can write warrants real
efficiently so we can do searches in warehouses. MS Word a great tool in the
battle against looting. It sort of is, but it also isn't.

It is true that Google and Bing maps have democratized aerial photography. But
much of the highest resolution photos that Google or Microsoft has for many
regions in the world are not collected by satellites but still by airplanes.
This is especially the case for the oblique photographs (aka "bird's eye)
which add a lot of complimentary value when doing site selection.

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nnethercote
> This article is a little disingenuous in how it represent this as something
> revolutionary.

We can quibble over the use of the word "revolutionary", but it certainly
seems to be _effective_ : "In the past few years, she has spotted thousands of
previously unknown tombs, temples and entire ancient cities, mostly in Egypt".

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nnethercote
I know Sarah. She's a lovely person, very smart and competent, with a genuine
love of archaeology. It's great to see she's having such success.

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ch
I find it amazing there is enough disposable cash to go around so that there
is such a market for rare antiquities. I would presume these are not purchased
by museums or institutions but by private collectors. I guess I still marvel
at the vastness of some fortunes.

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DrScump
Older technology is useful, too. Dr. Stephanie Dalley used old Corona Program
surveillance images in seeking a historical location for the Hanging
Gardens... but not in Babylon:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vVxbAJAog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vVxbAJAog)
Who Built The Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

(PBS.com's version is paywalled)

