ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sarah Parcak - Satellite archaeologist + TED Prize winner
Like a modern-day Indiana Jones, Sarah Parcak uses satellite images to locate lost ancient sites. The winner of the 2016 TED Prize, her wish is to protect the world’s shared cultural heritage.

Why you should listen

There may be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of undiscovered ancient sites across the globe. Sarah Parcak wants to locate them. As a space archaeologist, she analyzes high-resolution imagery collected by satellites in order to identify subtle changes to the Earth’s surface that might signal man-made features hidden from view. A TED Senior Fellow and a National Geographic Explorer, Parcak wrote the textbook on satellite archaeology and founded the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her goal: to make the world's invisible history visible once again.

In Egypt, Parcak's techniques have helped locate 17 potential pyramids, and more than 3,100 potential forgotten settlements. She's also made discoveries in the Viking world (as seen in the PBS Nova special, Vikings Unearthed) and across the Roman Empire (as shown in the BBC documentary, Rome’s Lost Empire). Her methods also offer a new way to understand how ancient sites are being affected by looting and urban development. By satellite-mapping Egypt and comparing sites over time, Parcak has noted a 1,000 percent increase in looting since 2009. It’s likely that millions of dollars worth of artifacts are stolen each year. Parcak hopes that, through her work, unknown sites can be protected to preserve our rich, vibrant history.

As the winner of the 2016 TED Prize, Parcak asked the world to help in this important work. By building a citizen science platform for archaeology, GlobalXplorer.org, Parcak invites anyone with an internet connection to help find the next potential looting pit or unknown tomb. GlobalXplorer launched on January 30, 2017, with volunteers working together to map Peru. Other countries will follow, as the platform democratizes discovery and makes satellite-mapping rapid and cost-effective. 

 

More profile about the speaker
Sarah Parcak | Speaker | TED.com
TED2012

Sarah Parcak: Archaeology from space

Sarah Parcak: Elspaca arkeologio

Filmed:
1,129,965 views

En tiu mallonga prelego, arkeologistino Sarah Parcak montras kiel oni uzas satelitajn fotojn por serĉi spurojn de antikvaj civilizacioj.
- Satellite archaeologist + TED Prize winner
Like a modern-day Indiana Jones, Sarah Parcak uses satellite images to locate lost ancient sites. The winner of the 2016 TED Prize, her wish is to protect the world’s shared cultural heritage. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
When I was a child growing up in Maine,
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Kiam mi estis infano en Maino,
00:18
one of my favorite things to do
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unu el miaj ŝatokupoj estis
00:20
was to look for sand dollars on the seashores of Maine,
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serĉi sablodolarojn (klipasteroidojn)
ĉe la marbordo,
00:24
because my parents told me it would bring me luck.
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ĉar miaj gepatroj diris, ke ili estas feliĉigiloj.
00:26
But you know, these shells, they're hard to find.
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Nu, sciu ke tiuj bestetoj malfacile troveblas.
00:29
They're covered in sand. They're difficult to see.
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Ili kaŝas sin en la sablo, kaj estas apenaŭ videblaj.
00:32
However, overtime, I got used to looking for them.
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Iom post iom, tamen, mi alkutimiĝis trovi ilin.
00:36
I started seeing shapes
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Mi komencis vidi formojn
00:37
and patterns that helped me to collect them.
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kaj spurojn, kiuj helpis min pri mia kolektado.
00:41
This grew into a passion for finding things,
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Tiu okupo iĝis pasio pri la malkovro de kaŝitaĵoj,
00:44
a love for the past and archaeology.
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pri la pasinteco kaj arkeologio.
00:47
And eventually when I started studying Egyptology,
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Fine, mi ekstudis egiptologion,
00:50
I realized that seeing with my naked eyes alone wasn't enough.
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kaj ekkomprenis ke vidi nur nudokule ne sufiĉas.
00:55
Because all of the sudden in Egypt
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Subite, en Egiptio,
00:57
my beach had grown from a tiny beach in Maine
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mi trovis min antaŭ «plaĝo»
01:01
to one eight hundred miles long
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800 mejloj-longa
01:03
next to the Nile,
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apud la Nilo,
01:05
and my sand dollars had grown
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kaj miaj sablodolaroj
01:07
to the size of cities.
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nun estis grandaj kiel urboj.
01:09
This is really what brought me to using satellite imagery.
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Tiu situacio instigis min al uzo
de persatelita imagado.
01:13
For trying to map the past, I knew that I had to see differently.
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Por mapigi la pasintecon, mi konsciis ke mi bezonas vidi novmaniere.
01:17
So I want to show you an example of how we see differently
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Jen ekzemplo pri kiel oni vidas malsame
01:20
using the infrared.
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uzante infraruĝan lumon.
01:22
This is a site located in the eastern Egyptian delta
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Tio ĉi estas Bendix, loko situata
01:26
called Bendix.
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en la orienta egiptia delto.
01:27
And the site visibly appears brown,
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La loko ŝajnas bruna,
01:29
but when we use the infrared
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sed per infraruĝa lumo
01:31
and we process it, all of the sudden, using false color,
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kaj taŭga traktado, subite, uzante falsajn kolorojn,
01:36
the site appears as bright pink.
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ĝi fariĝas helrozkolora.
01:38
What you are seeing
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Tio kion vi vidas
01:40
are the actual chemical changes to the landscape
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estas la ĥemiaj ŝanĝoj kaŭzitaj al la pejzaĝo
01:43
caused by the building materials and activities
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de la konstruaĵmaterialoj kaj laboro
01:46
of the ancient Egyptians.
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de la Praegiptoj.
01:48
What I want to share with you today
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Jen kiel ni uzis
01:51
is how we've used satellite data
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satelitajn datumojn
01:54
to find an ancient Egyptian city,
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por trovi antikvan egiptian urbon
01:56
called Itjtawy,
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nomitan Itjtawy,
01:58
missing for thousands of years.
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kiu malaperis antaŭ miloj da jaroj.
02:00
Itjtawy was ancient Egypt's capital
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Pratempe, ĝi estis la ĉefurbo de Egiptio
02:03
for over four hundred years,
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tra pli ol kvar jarcentoj,
02:05
at a period of time called the Middle Kingdom
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dum periodo nomata Meza Imperio,
02:07
about four thousand years ago.
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antaŭ ĉirkaŭ kvar mil jaroj.
02:09
The site is located in the Faiyum of Egypt
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Ĝi situas en la provinco Fajum,
02:12
and site is really important because in the Middle Kingdom
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grava detalo, ĉar en la Meza Imperio
02:14
there was this great renaissance for ancient Egyptian art,
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tie okazis granda renaskiĝo de la egiptiaj arto,
02:17
architecture and religion.
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arkitekturo kaj religio.
02:20
Egyptologists have always known the site of Itjtawy
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Arkeologistoj ĉiam sciis, ke la urbo estis
02:23
was located somewhere near the pyramids
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ie proksime al la piramidoj de la du reĝoj,
02:26
of the two kings who built it, indicated within the red circles here,
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kiuj starigis ĝin – en la ruĝa cirklo sur la ekrano –
02:30
but somewhere within this massive flood plane.
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en tiu vastega apudrivera ebenaĵo.
02:32
This area is huge --
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Ja granda ejo
02:34
it's four miles by three miles in size.
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– kvar mejlojn kontraŭ tri.
02:36
The Nile used to flow right next to the city of Itjtawy,
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La Nilo antaŭe fluis tutapude,
02:39
and as it shifted and changed and moved over time to the east,
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sed ĝia fluejo moviĝis orienten iom post iom,
02:43
it covered over the city.
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kaj fine la rivero englutis la urbon.
02:45
So, how do you find a buried city
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Nu, kiel malkovri enterigitan urbon
02:48
in a vast landscape?
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en tiel vasta ejo?
02:51
Finding it randomly would be the equivalent
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Fidi je la hazardo estus kiel
02:53
of locating a needle in a haystack,
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serĉi nadlon en fojnamaso,
02:55
blindfolded wearing baseball mitts.
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okulbandaĝita, kaj kun dikaj gantoj.
02:58
So what we did is we used NASA topography data
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Ni do uzis topografiajn datumojn de la NASA
03:02
to map out the landscape, very subtle changes.
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por mapigi la pejzaĝon kaj ĝiajn et-etajn ŝanĝojn.
03:04
We started to be able to see where the Nile used to flow.
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Iom post iom, eblis vidi la antaŭan fluejon de la Nilo.
03:08
But you can see in more detail -- and even more interesting --
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Sed pli detala – kaj pli interesa – vido
03:11
this very slight raised area
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montras tiun iom sublevitan areon,
03:14
seen within the circle up here, which we thought could possibly be
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ene de ĉi tiu cirklo, kiu povus esti
03:16
the location of the city of Itjtawy.
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la urbo mem.
03:18
So we collaborated with the Egyptian scientists
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Sekve, ni kunlaboris kun egiptiaj sciencistoj
03:21
to do coring work, which you see here.
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al fosado de puto, por ekhavi specimenojn tiajn.
03:24
When I say coring, it's like ice coring, but instead of
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Ili similas glacispecimenojn, sed anstataŭ klimatŝanĝadajn signojn,
03:26
layers of climate change you're looking for layers of human occupation.
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ili donas spurojn de homa okupado.
03:30
And five meters down,
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Sub kvin metroj
03:32
underneath a thick layer of mud,
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de dika kota tavolo,
03:34
we found a dense layer of pottery.
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ni trovis densan stratumon de ceramikaĵaro.
03:37
What this shows is that at this possible location
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Do, jen ebla loko de Itjtawy;
03:40
of Itjtawy, five meters down,
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kvin metrojn subgrunde
03:42
we have of layer of occupation for several hundred years
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troviĝas stratumon de plurjarcenta okupado,
03:45
dating to the Middle Kingdom, dating to the exact period of time
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komencanta je la Meza Imperio, trafe en la periodo
03:47
we think Itjtawy is.
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en kiu devas esti la urbo.
03:49
We also found work stone --
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Ni trovis ankaŭ gemojn
03:52
carnelian, quartz and agate that shows
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– karneolo, kvarco kaj agato –, kiuj montras
03:55
that there was a jewelers workshop here.
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ke kuŝis juvelistejoj ĉi tie.
03:57
These might not look like much,
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Ne vere impone, eble,
03:58
but when you think about the most common stones
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sed dum la Meza Imperio,
04:01
used in jewelry from the Middle Kingdom,
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ili estis la plej ofte
04:03
these are the stones that were used.
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uzataj juvelŝtonoj.
04:06
So, we have a dense layer of occupation
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Do sub ĉi tiu loko troviĝas densa tavolo de okupado
04:08
dating to the Middle Kingdom at this site.
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komencanta je la Meza Imperio. Troviĝas ankaŭ pruvoj,
04:10
We also have evidence of an elite jewelers workshop,
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ke kuŝis juvelistejoj por riĉa klientaro,
04:13
showing that whatever was there was a very important city.
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kaj ke tiu urbo, kia ajn ĝi nomiĝis, estis grava loko.
04:17
No Itjtawy was here yet,
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Ni ne estas certaj, ke ja temas pri Itjtawy,
04:18
but we're going to be returning to the site
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sed ni esperas reiri tie baldaŭ
04:20
in the near future to map it out.
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por komplete mapigi la lokon.
04:23
And even more importantly,
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Eĉ pli grave,
04:25
we have funding to train young Egyptians
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ni havas monon por trejni junajn Egiptojn
04:27
in the use of satellite technology
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pri la uzo de satelita teknikaro,
04:29
so they can be the ones making great discoveries as well.
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por ke estu ili, kiuj faras gravajn malkovrojn.
04:33
So I wanted to end with my favorite quote
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Mi volas konkludi kun mia plejŝatata citaĵo
04:36
from the Middle Kingdom --
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el la Meza Imperio.
04:38
it was probably written at the city of Itjtawy four thousand years ago.
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Ĝi probable estis verkita en Itjtawy antaŭ kvar mil jaroj.
04:42
"Sharing knowledge is the greatest of all callings.
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«Kundividi scion estas la plej nobla alvoko.
04:45
There's nothing like it in the land."
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Nenio en la lando similas al ĝi.»
04:47
So as it turns out, TED was not founded in 1984 AD.
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Kia surprizo: TED ne komencis en 1984 nE.
04:53
(Laughter)
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(Ridoj)
04:55
Making ideas actually started in 1984 BC
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Eltrovi ideojn fakte komencis en 1984 aNE,
05:01
at a not-lost-for-long city, found from above.
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ĉe (provizore) perdita urbo, retrovita de sur la ĉielo.
05:04
It certainly puts finding seashells by the seashore in perspective.
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Ja relativigas la ĉemaran serĉadon de sablodolaroj.
05:08
Thank you very much.
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Koran dankon.
05:10
(Applause)
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(Aplaŭdoj)
05:12
Thank you.
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Dankon.
05:13
(Applause)
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(Aplaŭdoj)
Translated by Stéphane Brault
Reviewed by Karine Breault

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sarah Parcak - Satellite archaeologist + TED Prize winner
Like a modern-day Indiana Jones, Sarah Parcak uses satellite images to locate lost ancient sites. The winner of the 2016 TED Prize, her wish is to protect the world’s shared cultural heritage.

Why you should listen

There may be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of undiscovered ancient sites across the globe. Sarah Parcak wants to locate them. As a space archaeologist, she analyzes high-resolution imagery collected by satellites in order to identify subtle changes to the Earth’s surface that might signal man-made features hidden from view. A TED Senior Fellow and a National Geographic Explorer, Parcak wrote the textbook on satellite archaeology and founded the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her goal: to make the world's invisible history visible once again.

In Egypt, Parcak's techniques have helped locate 17 potential pyramids, and more than 3,100 potential forgotten settlements. She's also made discoveries in the Viking world (as seen in the PBS Nova special, Vikings Unearthed) and across the Roman Empire (as shown in the BBC documentary, Rome’s Lost Empire). Her methods also offer a new way to understand how ancient sites are being affected by looting and urban development. By satellite-mapping Egypt and comparing sites over time, Parcak has noted a 1,000 percent increase in looting since 2009. It’s likely that millions of dollars worth of artifacts are stolen each year. Parcak hopes that, through her work, unknown sites can be protected to preserve our rich, vibrant history.

As the winner of the 2016 TED Prize, Parcak asked the world to help in this important work. By building a citizen science platform for archaeology, GlobalXplorer.org, Parcak invites anyone with an internet connection to help find the next potential looting pit or unknown tomb. GlobalXplorer launched on January 30, 2017, with volunteers working together to map Peru. Other countries will follow, as the platform democratizes discovery and makes satellite-mapping rapid and cost-effective. 

 

More profile about the speaker
Sarah Parcak | Speaker | TED.com