Satellites, Archaeology & Ancient Egypt
This story from the Economist describes how some archaeologists are using Google Earth:
David Thomas, a graduate student at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, belongs to a team that launched a project called Archaeological Sites of Afghanistan in Google Earth (ASAGE) last year after plans for a survey near the Minaret of Jam had to be abandoned because of the continuing conflict in the region. He and his colleagues decided that making discoveries using computer mice, rather than shovels and trowels, would have to do instead.
“Realistically it is not possible for a Western field archaeologist to work in that area, and I can’t imagine it will be for the next 20 years,” says Mr Thomas. But, he says, studying images from Google Earth (pictured) has the potential to enrich significantly our knowledge of Afghanistan’s archaeological remains, particularly in areas that are too large, dangerous or remote to survey from the ground.”
Although Google Earth can help make discoveries remotely in this way, other archaeologists are using it in the planning stages of their work, to identify places that warrant further investigation on the ground. Nico Tripcevich of the University of California, Berkeley, used the software to help with his research into the quarrying and trade of obsidian, a kind of volcanic rock used by pre-Hispanic peoples to make tools, weapons and decorative objects as early as 10,000 years ago. He used Google Earth to find tracks used to carry the rock, probably in llama caravans, away from a quarry site at Colca Canyon, at an altitude of 4,600 metres, in southern Peru. Linear features, such as Inca walls and roads, are easy to spot because they cut across natural features.
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Jason Ur, an anthropologist at Harvard University, is using the software as part of his investigation of Tell Brak, a site in north-east Syria. It was one of the largest urban sites in northern Mesopotamia and is believed to have been settled as early as 6,000 BC. Dr Ur is using Google Earth to identify tracks and other linear features running away from Tell Brak, as part of his research into the mechanism of Mesopotamian city-formation.
Read the Full story.
In Egypt Dr Sarah Parcak from the University of Alabama at Birmingham uses remote sensing satellite images to discover archaeological sites.
* Link to the Tanis area mentioned in the video.
On the Archaeological Institute of America blog yesterday it was announced that Dr Parcak will be giving a lecture on the topic next Wednesday:
According to Dr. Parcak, “only 1/100th of one percent of archaeological sites in Egypt have been discovered. Our entire understanding of Egyptian history is based on these few discoveries. What we have discovered sofar is just the tip of the iceberg.” Dr. Parcak has published widely in archaeological journals, and is writing Satellite Archaeology for Routledge. She has received extensive media coverage for her work in satellite archaeology by the Discovery Channel (where she was featured in “Why Ancient Egypt Fell”), The Economist, The Times, Popular Science and internet-based news channels such as LiveScience.
Dr. Parcak will be guest lecturing in the Women in Antiquity seminar on women’s lives at Deir el-Medina, the workers’ village for the Valley of the Kings, final resting place of the New Kingdom Pharoahs. This talk is open to the public. Her evening talk will be directed toward her research using satellites. With the aid of this technology, she can identify sites in a matter of weeks instead of years. In 2003-2004 she located over 130 new sites dating from the time of the pyramids through the early Christian period.
“Women and Power in Antiquity: A New Kingdom Case Study from Deir el-Medina, Thebes” September 17, 2008 (Wednesday) 2:20 PM Roberts 419, UAH
“Making the Mummies Dance from Space: Using Satellite Imagery to Find Ancient Egypt” September 17, 2008 (Wednesday) 7:30 PM Chan Auditorium, UAH
You can purchase Dr. Parcak’s book, Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology from Amazon by clicking on the image above.
Google Earth and the GeoEye1 satellite
While on the subject of Google Earth and satellites, users of Google Earth will soon see an increase in the quality of imagery with the recent launch of the GeoEye1 satellite:
GeoEye-1 will be able to capture images at .41 meters (16 inches) resolution in black and white and 1.65 meters (5.5 feet) in color, but under current government rules, the company can only offer the public half-meter (1.64 feet) images.
The satellite will take digital images of the Earth from 423 miles and moving at a speed of about 4 1/2 miles per second.
O’Connell said the $502 million satellite, built partly with money from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, would “open up a lot of opportunities” for the GeoEye, and capped four years of work on the spacecraft.
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O’Shaughnessy said Page and Brin “look forward to getting some real quality, high-resolution imagery into Google Earth in the months to come.”
He said the new color imagery would mean that Google Earth and Google Maps users would have access to more detailed images in about three to four months, after the new imagery had been loaded into Google.
Source: GeoEye launches high-resolution satellite
Download Google Earth to have a go at discovering something yourself.
You can view the same satellite imagery that Google Earth uses without downloading and installing the program by going to Google Maps. Just click on the ‘Sat’ button at the top right area of the page.
I have incorporated Google Maps into each of the Pyramid Fields pages on this blog. See the ‘Pyramid Fields’ section at the top right area of this page. An example of one of these Pyramid Fields is Giza Plateau. By embedding Google Maps into these pages it allows you, the visitor, to click and drag to look around the area and to zoom in.
Directly underneath the Google Maps image on the Pyramid Field pages is a quick-link that will automatically show you a close up view of a particular pyramid in that field.
Because these pages are importing Google Maps directly into the page, as soon as the new satellite images from GeoEye1 are added to Google’s database these Pyramid Fields pages will automatically be upgraded with the much higher resolution photos.
I can’t wait!
Tags: satellite, technology
