Sarah Parcak

Scientist

Sayings and Quotes

It's an important tool to focus where we're excavating. It gives us a much bigger perspective on archaeological sites. We have to think bigger, and that's what the satellites allow us to do.
Sarah Parcak
Perspective Focus Think Important
There are so many previously unknown sites and structures all over the world. And I think most importantly what satellites help to show us is we've actually only found a fraction of a percent of ancient settlements and sites all over the world.
Sarah Parcak
World Think Help Unknown
What if Hiram Bingham had the technology to find hundreds of other archaeological sites at the same time and create entire 3-D maps of the ancient landscape accurate to within a few inches?
Sarah Parcak
Technology Time Landscape Find
Archaeologists have used aerial photographs to map archaeological sites since the 1920s, while the use of infrared photography started in the 1960s, and satellite imagery was first used in the 1970s.
Sarah Parcak
Photography Map First Started
I've always loved teaching and reading and talking to people, and my grandfather was a professor.
Sarah Parcak
People Loved Reading Talking
We're literally just beginning to learn how to use satellites to find sites. More and more people are realizing there's this incredible tool.
Sarah Parcak
People Beginning Find How
We only have a limited amount of time left before many archaeological sites all over the world are destroyed. So we have to be really selective about where we dig.
Sarah Parcak
Time World Left Only
Think about what would happen if Indiana Jones and Google Earth had a love child. I use high-resolution and NASA satellites and look for subtle differences on the surface of the earth that locate buried ancient pyramids and towns and ancient tombs, which we then go and excavate.
Sarah Parcak
Love Look Child Think
I try to tell a lot of stories to make my students aware that the world is a very cool place with many problems that need solving, and that they all can help solve them.
Sarah Parcak
Cool World Problems Place
'Satellite archaeology' refers to the use of NASA and commercial high resolution satellite datasets to map and discover past structures, cities, and geological features.
Sarah Parcak
Past High Map NASA
What these satellites do is they record light radiation that's reflected off the surface of the Earth in different parts of the light spectrum. We use false color imaging to try to tease out these very subtle differences on the ground.
Sarah Parcak
Light Color Earth Differences
All over the world, we're finding out that, you know, whether it's Egypt or Syria or Central America, what satellites are showing is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of previously unknown settlements all over the world, and what archaeology does, it helps us to understand this common humanity that we have.
Sarah Parcak
You World America Humanity
Before doing fieldwork in Middle Egypt, I analyzed satellite imagery to determine exactly where I wanted to go. Within three weeks, I found about 70 sites. If I had approached this as a traditional foot survey, it would have taken me three and a half years.
Sarah Parcak
Me Doing Egypt Three
I'm looking at looting photos from space, and there are people putting their lives on the line every day protecting their heritage. I call these people the real culture heroes.
Sarah Parcak
Day People Culture Looking
Imagery is powerful. Imagery is provocative - satellite imagery much more so because it is from space, and it allows us to get this perspective that we don't have to have otherwise.
Sarah Parcak
Perspective Space Powerful More
What satellites help to show us is we've actually only found a fraction of a percent of ancient settlements and sites all over the world... It's the most exciting time in history to be an archaeologist.
Sarah Parcak
History Time World Help
I give my grandfather, Dr Harold Young, a forestry Professor at the University of Maine, full credit for my career path. He pioneered the use of aerial photography in forestry in the 1950s, and we think he worked as a spy for the CIA during the Cold War, mapping Russian installations.
Sarah Parcak
War Path Think Grandfather
Looting speaks to a lack of economic opportunities - frankly, we all would loot, too, if our families' continued survival depended on it.
Sarah Parcak
Survival Opportunities Economic Our
I'm an Egyptologist. I'm a remote sensing specialist, and I'm a space archaeologist.
Sarah Parcak
Space Specialist Remote Sensing
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