Sarah Parcak, Space Archaeologist

This article is a little disingenuous in how it represent this as something revolutionary.

Using remote sensing has a long and storied tradition in archaeology. The archaeology department at my university regularly flew out to collect photos of the region, and had been doing so since the seventies. Not to mention the use of balloons and dirigibles in the dilettante era of the profession.

Calling this "space archaeology" is more of a smart rebranding of an established practice. It is not a recent evolution in the profession, neither is it something where “More and more people are realizing there’s this incredible tool". But "space" sounds fancy. Second, framing this as a tool in the battle against looting is typical of the TED minset. Grab yer technology A, grab yer problem B, shake it up, and boom, new shticky hook to take on the roadshow. It's like saying, hey, with email we can write warrants real efficiently so we can do searches in warehouses. MS Word a great tool in the battle against looting. It sort of is, but it also isn't.

It is true that Google and Bing maps have democratized aerial photography. But much of the highest resolution photos that Google or Microsoft has for many regions in the world are not collected by satellites but still by airplanes. This is especially the case for the oblique photographs (aka "bird's eye) which add a lot of complimentary value when doing site selection.

I know Sarah. She's a lovely person, very smart and competent, with a genuine love of archaeology. It's great to see she's having such success.

I find it amazing there is enough disposable cash to go around so that there is such a market for rare antiquities. I would presume these are not purchased by museums or institutions but by private collectors. I guess I still marvel at the vastness of some fortunes.

Older technology is useful, too. Dr. Stephanie Dalley used old Corona Program surveillance images in seeking a historical location for the Hanging Gardens... but not in Babylon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vVxbAJAog Who Built The Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

(PBS.com's version is paywalled)