Infrared imagery finds lost Egyptian pyramids

By on 31 May, 2011
 
A recent satellite survey of Egypt has reportedly found 17 lost pyramids.
 
The infrared images also revealed more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements, literally lost in the sands of time.
 
The survey was pioneered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the US, by Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak.
 
She says that she was amazed at how much she and her team have found.
 
"We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the "Aha!" moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we'd found and I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt.
 
"To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist," she told the BBC.
 
The infrared satellite surveys were used to highlight materials under the surface with higher densities relative to their surrounds – such as the mud bricks used in ancient buildings.
 
Test excavations have proven the validity of the data, and, despite the large number of finds, Dr Parcack believes this is just the beginning.
 
"These are just the sites [close to] the surface. There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt. This is just the beginning of this kind of work."

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