Archaeologist Dr. Sarah Parcak – TMO Background Mode Interview

Dr. Sarah Parcak is an archaeologist, anthropologist, Egyptologist, and remote sensing expert who has used satellite imaging to identify potential archaeological sites in Egypt, Rome, and elsewhere. She’s written the first textbook in the field of satellite archaeology, called Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology. She holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in Egyptian Archaeology and is currently at the Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham.

Sarah told me how she became fascinated by Egyptology at an early age. And, yes, she was influenced by Indiana Jones. In college, inspired by her father’s aerial photogrammetry work, she took a remote sensing class, and that gave her the idea years later, to use NASA satellite photos to identify prospective archaeological sites. These satellite photos can also reveal signs of looting. Sarah described how climate change and poor funding is adversely affecting the science of archaeology.