The iconic statues on Easter Island have fascinated archaeologists since they were first noted by a Dutch explorer in 1722. HOW AND WHERE THE EASTER ISLAND MOAI WERE MOVED The fate of the Maya is now often held up as a prime example of the risk of deforestation and climate change. They also drained the wetlands known as bajos, as evidenced by images of ancient drains, causing drought and resulting in an increase in temperature. The images indicate that the Maya used slash-and-burn agricultural practices that led to severe deforestation. Sever has used the images to further his theory-one also promoted by Jared Diamond in his popular book Collapse but not accepted by all Maya scholars-that what brought down the Maya was self-induced ecological disaster. In order to gain a greater understanding of this collapse, Tom Sever, the first archaeologist to work for NASA, has been analyzing images taken from an agency satellite program known as SERVIR which was launched from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama in 2005. Archaeologists have been working with NASA using remote sensing to examine the Petén jungle from space in the hope of identifying lost sites associated with the Maya, whose culture reached the height of its power and influence from the 7th to the 9th centuries-and then collapsed around the turn of the 10th century. The heavily forested Petén region of northern Guatemala is home to some of the most important Maya ruins in Central America, including Tikal. She's used the money to create the citizen science platform GlobalXplorer, which allows anyone to analyze images from space in order to discover more lost archaeological sites across the globe-and spot evidence of looters. Parcak gave a hugely popular TED talk on space archaeology in 2012, and in 2015 was awarded the 2016 $1 million TED prize. The network of streets and houses of Tanis are completely invisible at ground level, and yet using infrared satellite images, Parcak was able to show the massive extent of the ancient settlement. Parcak also used remote sensing to identify the location of the lost city of Tanis, which gained notoriety when it was featured in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The tiny blips on the maps would mean nothing to the uninitiated, but to Parcak they provide clues that have led her to discover the location of 17 potential pyramids, some 3100 settlements, and 1000 lost tombs across Egypt. This allows her to note anomalies that could denote archaeological sites hidden underground. Parcak specializes in analyzing satellite images taken from 400 miles overhead, processing the pictures to highlight parts of the electromagnetic spectrum the naked human eye cannot see.
Sarah Parcak is a space archaeologist and Egyptologist who since 2003 has discovered numerous archaeological sites across Egypt, all through her computer.
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