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]
Career
From 2003 to 2004, Parcak used satellite images and surface surveys to discover 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 able to distinguish differentiations in plant's chlorophyll, which can distinguish the less healthy plants that grow over 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 reduces the time and cost for determining archaeological sites compared to surface detection.[8]
In 2009, satellite imagery was used to find holes in the ground as evidence of how looting had escalated in Egypt.[9]
Claims of Buried Egyptian Pyramids, Tombs and Settlements including Tanis
In May 2011, Parcak claimed on BBC News that she discovered 17 previously unknown buried Egyptian pyramids, 1000 tombs and 3100 settlements (refer to announcements by Egyptologist Sarah Parcak and collaborators) that her satellite imagery analysis had identified 4117 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 generated considerable attention, but 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 4117 structures were inferred from patterns visible in satellite imagery which appeared to correspond to subsurface architectural features. Parcak described the discovery as evidence that satellite technology could reveal previously unknown archaeological landscapes in Egypt.[12]
Tanis interpretation
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, 1000 tombs and 3100 buried settlements announcement prompted mixed reactions among archaeologists. Egypt’s Minister of State for Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, rejected the interpretation that Parcak had discovered 17 new pyramids, 1000 tombs and 3100 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.
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.
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.
Later studies conducted by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities indicate that:
One feature identified by Parcak was, indeed, a pyramid located near Saqqara, but it was already known to archaeologists and was exposed, not buried.
Another feature, near Tanis, identified as a potential pyramid by Parcak was determined to be a natural mound.
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.[14]
In 2016, she was the recipient of Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category.[15] The same year, satellite images from Parcak and her team claimed to have identified the second-known Viking site in North America, located in Newfoundland. Upon subsequent ground investigation, it turned out not to be a Viking site or of any archeological significance. Her team also identified a large ceremonial platform in Petra and worked on satellite mapping the parts of Peru for the crowdsourcing project called GlobalXplorer.[5]. Of the 19,700 sites idEntified by crowd-sourced citizen scientists, 342 turn out to be of possible significance and most were already known by the Peruvian Ministry of Antiquities. In 2020, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 2020 Fellowship.[16]
Documentaries
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.[17] The program discussed the research and showed Parcak in Egypt looking for physical evidence. The UAB team announced that they had "discovered" 17 pyramids, more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements outside Sa el-Hagar, Egypt.[18] However, the Minister of State for Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, was critical of the announcement and said: "This is completely wrong information. Any archaeologist will deny this completely".[19]
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."[20][21]
She was the focus of "Rome's Lost Empire", a TV documentary by Dan Snow, first shown on BBC One[22] 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.[23]
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.[24][25]
GlobalXplorer for India was scheduled to launch in 2019, but it hasn't as of March 2026. The GlobalXplorer platform has been on hiatus since 2021 despite Dr. Parcak saying she hoped to map all the world's archaeological sites within 10 years in her TED lecture.
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."[26]
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.[29]
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.[30]
↑Parcak, Sarah; Mumford, Gregory (November 8, 2017). "Point Rosee, Codroy Valley, NL (ClBu-07) 2016 Test Excavations under Archaeological Investigation Permit #16.26"(PDF). geraldpennyassociates.com, 42 pages. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018. [The 2015 and 2016 excavations] found no evidence whatsoever for either a Norse presence or human activity at Point Rosee prior to the historic period. […] None of the team members, including the Norse specialists, deemed this area [Point Rosee] as having any traces of human activity.
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