TED talk and interview: Pyramid-Discovering 'Space Archaeologist' Sarah Parcak

[Nía]

Stephen Colbert's Fascinating Interview With Pyramid-Discovering 'Space Archaeologist' Sarah Parcak


By Tom Boggioni / Raw Story

Taking a break from celebrity chit-chat, Late Show host Stephen Colbert welcomed ‘space archaeologist’ Sarah Parcak to his show to discuss how she uses high-resolution photography of Earth taken from space to search for lost pyramids and towns buried beneath Earth’s surface.

Parcak, an associate professor of Anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama, recently was awarded the 2016 $1 million TED Prize for her talk on how she uses satellite imagery to discover below-surface ruins.

Describing her work as if “Indiana Jones had a lovechild With Google Earth,” Parcak described finding the sites of 17 potential pyramids in Egypt, 3,100 missing settlements, and over a thousand lost tombs.

Indicating a photo she said shows an ancient amphitheater in Rome, Parcak explained, “Processing the satellite data and looking for subtle differences in vegetation health, which you literally cannot see visibly, we’re able to map this, about 120 feet across.”

According to Parcak, by looking at for subtle differences in the light spectrum surrounding plants, she can tell if there are anomalies below the surface that may indicate ruins. This allows archaeologists to pinpoint exactly where to look.

Colbert grew uncontrollably excited when she shared imagery of what lies beneath the city of Tanis, where film’s Indiana Jones discovered the clues to the Ark of the Covenant within the secret chamber known as the Well of the Souls.

Watch the video below from YouTube:

Source: Alternet, January 9, 2016

[C-JEAN]

Hello TED fans.

WOW !! DO I LOVE good TED talkS !!!!

I have also seen, on good TV, that similar searches and discoveries
are made in South America, for pyramids and others, too !!

The difference is that the subtle changes are in the
colors/shades of the green of the trees !!

I have seen them find a green difference, then walk to
the spot and FIND stuff !!!

It works in sand and trees, and maybe other wide regions!! B-)

Blue skies.

[Parsons]

Since we were in a mini ice age towards the end of Atlantis, I suspect the majority of the civilization settled along the coast line (like we have). If only they could get this working for a couple hundred feet underwater... we could find a lot more evidence of Atlantis.

It is very telling from the content of this video that if we completely lost the location / ruins of a key city from only 3000 years ago; it stands to reason it would be much more difficult to find remains of a civilization from 10,800 years ago (even considering advanced technology).

[Nía]

Since we were in a mini ice age towards the end of Atlantis, I suspect the majority of the civilization settled along the coast line (like we have). If only they could get this working for a couple hundred feet underwater... we could find a lot more evidence of Atlantis.

Maybe science is not far from there, either:

NASA Earth Observatory

Seafloor Features Are Revealed by the Gravity Field, 2015-12-29

There is another way to see the depths of the ocean: by measuring the shape and gravity field of Earth, a discipline known as geodesy. David Sandwell of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Walter Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have spent much of the past 25 years negotiating with military agencies and satellite operators to allow them acquire or gain access to measurements of the Earth’s gravity field and sea surface heights. The result of their collaborative efforts is a global data set that tells where the ridges and valleys are by showing where the planet’s gravity field varies.

The map above shows a global view of gravity anomalies, as measured and assembled by Sandwell, Smith, and colleagues. Shades of orange and red represent areas where seafloor gravity is stronger (in milligals) than the global average, a phenomenon that mostly coincides with the location of underwater ridges, seamounts, and the edges of Earth’s tectonic plates. Shades of blue represent areas of lower gravity, corresponding largely with the deepest troughs in the ocean. The second map shows a tighter view of that data along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Africa and South America.

New Seafloor Map Helps Scientists Find New Features, 2016-01-13

-`ღ´-

[Nía]

The space archaeologist unearthed 4000 years old tomb in Egypt

Middle Kingdom rock-cut tomb discovered in El-Lisht. The Egyptian-American mission directed by Mohamed Youssef (Dahshur antiquities director) and Dr. Sarah Parcak (University of Alabama) discovered a Middle Kingdom tomb in El-Lisht to the south of Senusret I pyramid.

Source: Luxor Times Magazine, 2016-02-23

Curious to see what else they might find...