How scientists found tombs from space
A worker brushes a mural in one of six tombs in the New Kingdom Cemetery in South Saqqara A worker brushes a mural in one of six tombs in the New Kingdom Cemetery in South Saqqara
Cairo - Infra-red satellite images taken from 400 miles above Egypt have revealed 17 lost pyramids and more than 1,000 tombs.
Archaeologists analysing the images also found 3,000 settlements and were astonished at the sheer number of the finds.
“I couldn’t believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt,” Dr Sarah Parcak, of the University of Alabama, told the BBC.
In infra-red images, the mud bricks used in ancient construction show up against the surrounding mud even when buried beneath the surface.
Dr Parcak believes that there are even more settlements, tombs and perhaps pyramids to find as scientists enhance “space archaeology” techniques.
At present, the cameras have only detected remains buried close to the surface. “This is just the beginning of this kind of work,” she said. - The Independent