Lost Pyramids Located

[Duchess Jack]

To find the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, Indiana Jones had to confront snakes and outsmart Nazis. Archeologist Sarah Parcak had it easier.

 

With satellite imagery (and more than a decade of experience), Parcak uncovered not just Tanis, but as many as 17 lost pyramids and thousands of tombs and settlements buried under an Egyptian floodplain.

 

"This just hints at the possibilities and the potential of the archeology of Egypt," said Parcak, an Egyptologist and assistant professor of archeology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "There's just so much there."

 

Funded with a grant from the BBC, which will air a documentary on the project next week, Parcak and her team spent more than a year poring over NASA and commercial satellite imagery of Egypt's Nile Valley Delta -- an area that covers thousands of square miles.

 

By looking at images of the surface in different wavelengths of light, they discovered differences on the ground that reveal the presence of ancient temples, houses and pyramids.

 

When you walk on the ground over an Egyptian floodplain, Parcak said, you can't see much more than a brown, silty surface. But pictures from satellites about 435 miles above Earth show the chemical changes in the soil caused by the mud brick walls used to build the hidden structures.

 

Satellite Imagery Lets Archeologists Peer Beneath Earth's Surface

 

Though the imagery showed a treasure trove of ancient antiquities buried 8 to 20 inches below the surface, Parcak emphasized that excavation or ground surveys still need to confirm their existence. But initial excavations have already validated some of her findings, including one pyramid.

 

Parcak said the idea to harness satellite technology came from her grandfather, a forestry professor who pioneered the use of aerial photography in his field.

 

"I grew up thinking that was just the coolest thing in the world because of my grandfather," she said.

 

When she got to college and started looking into applications of the technology in archeology, she said she found that very little work had been done.

 

Especially in an era of budget cuts and reduced travel, Parcak said her project shows that satellite technology can help archeologists explore remotely, strategically and more efficiently.

 

"I don't know that we have to think about excavations all the time," she said. "We can use the technology to help us zoom in on certain parts of sites."

 

Ultimately, Parcak said, satellite technology's greatest contribution to archeology is the breadth of information it's able to uncover more quickly.

 

By giving scientists an overview of a geographic area, it lets them turn their attention to the people and society that lived there, she said.

 

"To me, the most important part of ancient Egypt is the people," she said. "This information will hopefully allow us to ask different questions."

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/lost-pyra...ory?id=13693894

[Savage Beatings]

Very cool... maybe someday they'll find Atlantis with the same kind of technology. Not the Stargate version of Atlantis, but I believe that an ancient city existed and was destroyed (possibly sank into the sea due to some seismic event). Wouldn't it be awesome to finally confirm a rumor that's lasted thousands of years?

 

So now that they've found these pyramid sites, I wonder how long it will take to start uncovering them and learning from them.

[MikesVikes]

I think this guy took it.

[ABearWithFurniture]

How do you lose a pyramid...

[millerx]

How do you lose a pyramid...

They just misplaced it.

[Skippy]

I was recently hiking with some friends in a very rural area of WV. We came upon what is known as a coal ghost town. I was totally amazed at how the forest had grown up around this town in such a way that you could not easily tell where anything is/was. Now that is only a little more than 100 years give or take, just think what a thousand of so could do.

 

Very cool stuff.

[nuke'em ttg]

I was recently hiking with some friends in a very rural area of WV. We came upon what is known as a coal ghost town. I was totally amazed at how the forest had grown up around this town in such a way that you could not easily tell where anything is/was. Now that is only a little more than 100 years give or take, just think what a thousand of so could do.

 

Very cool stuff.

 

hmm....that's a good example that stuff is interesting

[lennykravitz2004]

Very cool... maybe someday they'll find Atlantis with the same kind of technology. Not the Stargate version of Atlantis, but I believe that an ancient city existed and was destroyed (possibly sank into the sea due to some seismic event). Wouldn't it be awesome to finally confirm a rumor that's lasted thousands of years?

 

So now that they've found these pyramid sites, I wonder how long it will take to start uncovering them and learning from them.

 

 

Atlantis is believed now to have been found off Spain.

 

And now that these pyramids are found, will they stop being referred to as "lost"? Maybe these pyramids have the proof aliens have visited Earth.