Sarah Parcak

Sarah Helen Parcak (born 1978) is an American archaeologist and Egyptologist,^[2] who has used satellite imagery to identify potential archaeological sites in Egypt, Rome, and elsewhere in the former Roman Empire. She is a professor of Anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In partnership with her husband, Greg Mumford, she directs survey and excavation projects in the Faiyum, Sinai, and Egypt's East Delta.

Parcak was born in Bangor, Maine, and received her bachelor's degree in Egyptology and Archaeological Studies from Yale University in 2001, and her PhD from the University of Cambridge. She is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); prior to that she was a teacher of Egyptian art and history at the University of Wales, Swansea.^[3][4]

During her undergraduate studies at Yale University, Parcak participated in her first of many digs in Egypt as well as a remote sensing course.^[5]

From 2003 to 2004, Parcak used satellite images and surface surveys to possibly detect sites of archaeological interest, some dating back to 3000 BC.^[6] Parcak's work consists of trying to find minute differences in topography, geology, and plant life to explore sites from a variety of cultures, although Egypt is her specialty. Satellites recording infrared wavelengths are sometimes able to distinguish differentiations in plant's chlorophyll, which can sometimes distinguish the less healthy plants that grow over very shallow buried structures.^[5]

In partnership with her husband, Dr. Greg Mumford, she directs Survey and Excavation Projects in the Fayoum, Sinai, and Egypt's East Delta. They used satellite imagery to look for water sources and archaeological sites.^[6][7] According to Parcak, this approach might reduce time and cost for determining archaeological sites compared to surface detection.^[8]

In 2007, she founded the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.^[1][7]

In 2009, satellite imagery was used to potentially detect evidence of looting escalation in Egypt.^[9]

In May 2011, Parcak claimed on BBC News that she had discovered 17 previously unknown buried Egyptian pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements (refer to announcements by Egyptologist Sarah Parcak and collaborators) that her satellite imagery analysis had identified 4,117 archaeological features in Egypt. settlements.^[10] The claims were widely publicized through the BBC documentary Egypt’s Lost Cities and international media coverage.

The announcement drew skepticism among archaeologists and remote sensing specialists who noted that satellite imagery can identify shallow anomalies, but cannot confirm archaeological structures without excavation. Satellite remote sensing (aka Space Archaeology) has been used in archaeology since the late twentieth century to identify landscape features that may indicate buried structures. Multispectral imagery can sometimes reveal differences in soil composition, vegetation growth and thermal properties associated with buried archaeological remains.^[11]

According to Parcak, the 4,117 structures were inferred from patterns visible in satellite imagery which appeared to correspond to shallow subsurface architectural features. Parcak described the discovery as evidence that satellite technology could reveal previously unknown archaeological landscapes in Egypt.^[12]

One of the locations highlighted in the study was the ancient Nile Delta city of Tanis. Satellite imagery was interpreted as revealing a large subsurface urban layout beneath the site. Tanis has been known and excavated since 1836, therefore Parcak's work was more of mapping previously known architectural remains rather than identifying a previously unknown city.

The 17 pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,100 buried settlements announcement prompted mixed reactions among archaeologists. Egypt’s Minister for thee Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, rejected the interpretation that Parcak had discovered 17 new pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements stating that it was “completely wrong information” and "Any archaeologist would deny this" and emphasizing that archaeological discoveries require excavation and verification.^[13]

Other archaeologists noted that remote sensing techniques are useful for identifying potential archaeological anomalies, but that many such anomalies later prove to be natural geological features or modern disturbances when investigated on the ground.^[14]

Remote sensing experts raised questions regarding the detectability of deeply buried pyramids using satellite imagery. Satellite sensors primarily measure surface or "skin" radiance and signals from buried structures attenuate rapidly with depth due to the thermal and physical properties of soils, especially in the Nile Valley which is very saline and waterlogged. ^[15]

According to standard models of conductive heat transfer in soils, temperature variations caused by buried structures decrease exponentially with depth, limiting the ability of surface-based thermal measurements to detect deeply buried objects. In addition, chemical or moisture differences associated with buried mud-brick architecture are unlikely to propagate to the surface through several meters of Nile sediments. Experts have hypothesized that what were identified by Parcak as pyramids might be other rectilinear features such as marks formed by 7,000 years of cultivation, including plow scars. ^[16]

Later studies conducted by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities indicate that:

• One feature identified by Parcak was, indeed, a pyramid (Pepi II) located near Saqqara, but it was already known to archaeologists and was exposed, not buried.^[17]

• Another feature, near Tanis, identified as a potential pyramid by Parcak was determined to be a natural mound.^[18]

The 1000 tombs and 3100 settlements remain largely unverified through excavation. Parcak never published the results of her study in a peer-reviewed journal making it impossible to replicate.

In 2015, she won the $1 million TED Prize for 2016.^[19]

In 2016, she was the recipient of Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category.^[20] The same year, using satellite images Parcak claimed to have potentially found the second-known Viking site in North America located at Point Rosee in Newfoundland. Upon subsequent ground investigation, the excavation found no evidence of a Viking site or anything of archeological significance.

Her team mapped a ceremonial platform in [[Petra].

In 2020, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 2020 Fellowship.^[21]

In May 2011, the BBC aired a documentary, Egypt's Lost Cities, describing BBC-sponsored research carried out by Parcak's UAB team for over a year using satellite imagery from commercial and NASA satellites.^[22] The program discussed the research and showed Parcak in Egypt looking for physical evidence. Parcak announced that she had "discovered" 17 pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements outside Sa el-Hagar, Egypt.^[23] However, the Minister of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, was critical of the announcement and said: "This is completely wrong information. Any archaeologist will deny this completely".^[24]

In May 2012, she was the subject of a half-hour program on CNN's The Next List which profiles innovators "who are setting trends and making strides in various fields."^[25][26]

She was the focus of "Rome's Lost Empire", a TV documentary by Dan Snow, first shown on BBC One^[27] on 9 December 2012. She identified possible sites in Romania, Nabataea, Tunisia, and Italy, including the arena at Portus, the lighthouse and a canal to Rome beside the river Tiber.^[28]

A BBC co-production with PBS, NOVA/WGBH Boston and French Television, Vikings Unearthed (first broadcast April 4, 2016) documented her use of satellite imagery to detect possible remains of a Norse / Viking presence at Point Rosee, Newfoundland. In 2015, Parcak stated that remains were likely a "turf wall and roasted bog" iron ore; however, an excavation conducted in 2016 proved that she was wrong and that the "turf wall and accumulation of bog iron ore" were actually the results of natural processes.^[29][30]

Sarah Parcak used the $1M TED Prize for a crowdsourced quest.^[31] satellite imagery was used to identify archaeological sites in parts of Peru for a crowdsourcing project called GlobalXplorer.^[5]. Of the nearly 20,000 sites identified by volunteera, approximately 300 turn out to be of potential interest. Many were either false positives (shadows, ponds, moist fields) or were already known by the Peruvian Ministry of Antiquities. No publications in refereed journals have been published on the study. GlobalXplorer in India was scheduled to launch in 2019, but it failed to. GlobalXplorer platform has been on hiatus since 2021.

In 2009, her book Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology was published by Routledge, describing the methodology of satellite archaeology.^[2] A review in Antiquity described it as focusing "more on technical methodology than interpretation and analysis," described Parcak's work as, "written in a lively style that makes a highly technical subject accessible to a general audience," and concluded that it was "a good introduction for undergraduate students of archaeology, anthropology and geography."^[32]

Her book Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past was published in July 2019^[33] and won the Archaeological Institute of America Felicia A. Holton Book Award in 2022.^[34]

In September 2020, Parcak's employer, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, issued a statement saying that tweets by Parcak aimed toward supporters of then-president Donald Trump following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed poor judgement and did not reflect the opinions of the university.^[35]

After Rush Limbaugh's death in 2021, Parcak tweeted that she hoped Limbaugh suffered until his last breath. The tweet is protected under the first amendment according to the ACLU of University of Alabama in spite of calls to terminate her position as a professor.^[36]

• FOX News coverage of Dr. Parcak's work
• Egypt: What Lies beneath – BBC Documentary about Parcak's work
• Interview with author
• [1]
• http://www.artofcounting.com/2011/05/26/seriously-did-zahi-hawass-just-spank-sarah-parcak/
• TED Radio Hour Episode on NPR