How do you find a buried city in a vast landscape? Finding it randomly would be the equivalent of locating a needle in a haystack, blindfolded, wearing baseball mitts.
From Sarah Parcak
What we did is we used NASA topography data to map out the landscape, very subtle changes. We started to be able to see where the Nile used to flow.
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.
I dig in the sand, and I play with pretty pictures, so I never really left kindergarten.
I am one of many people documenting damage and looting at ancient sites from space - it is such a crucial tool.
People were looting tombs 5,000 years ago in Egypt as soon as people were buried, but the problem is only getting worse and worse.
We can tell from the imagery a tomb was looted from a particular period of time, and we can alert INTERPOL to watch out for antiquities from that time that may be offered for sale.
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.
Indiana Jones is old school; we've moved on from Indy. Sorry, Harrison Ford.
I am honored to receive the TED Prize, but it's not about me; it's about our field - and the thousands of men and women around the world, particularly in the Middle East, who are defending and protecting sites.
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