Ancient Egyptian City Discovered from Space
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Images captured from satellites over Egypt identify divulging signs of previous habitation in a patch of land 200 miles south of Cairo, which recent digs confirmed as an ancient settlement dating from approximately 400 A.D.
Photo — 1,600 year old metropolis of Great Aten Temple at Tell el-Amarna, Middle Egypt. Even though the northern enclosure wall of the temple is buried beneath a modern cemetery, using Quickbird high resolution satellite imagery, it’s still possible to see the buried wall.
The find is part of a larger project to map as much of ancient Egypt’s archaeological sites, or ‘tells’, as possible before they’re destroyed or covered by modern development reports AOL News via Live Science.
“It is the biggest site discovered so far.” said project leader Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Based on the coins and pottery we found, it appears to be a massive regional center that traded with Greece, Turkey and Libya.”
Another large city dating to 600 B.C. and a monastery from 400 A.D. are some of the approximate four hundred sites that Parcak has located through her work with the satellites, with the oldest dating back more than 5,000 years.
Photo top — a tell in Middle Egypt. Based on archaeological remains it appears this tell represents one of 29 
Monasteries known from texts ca. 400 AD. The lines seen as grass are crop marks representing the outlines of ancient architecture.
Photo center — a large tell in Middle Egypt found completely buried beneath a modern cemetery. Ancient sites can often be identified by subtle differences in vegetation and soil, which would take much longer to identify from the 
ground.
Photo bottom — robbers’ trenches can be seen on the edges of this photo of a tell in the East Delta. Archaeologists are working to map the sites before they’re destroyed. All photos Sarah H Parcak, University of Alabama at Birmingham via Live Science
Egypt contains a wealth of already identified archaeological tells like these, which represent merely 0.01% of what remains still uncovered, Parcak said.
Most of the ancient settlements still buried are at risk of being lost to looting and urban sprawl. Archeologists state that residential sites, where the Egyptian empire’s millions of citizens lived during the era are particularly vulnerable.
“There are thousands of settlements that Egyptians don’t even know are there,” Parcak told LiveScience. “Nothing will ever destroy the Pyramids or the Temple of Luxor, but these huge settlement sites where we get a lot of information are being threatened. And that’s how we find out how people lived.”
Parcak is the first to use the satellite technology in Egypt to identify specific points on a large scale.
“Basically, I’m trying to distinguish the ancient remains from the modern landscape.” she said. “A site is going to appear very differently from space.” Archaeological sites absorb moisture in a different way, she explained, and tend to be covered with specific types of soil and vegetation.
The subtle differences would take much longer to identify on the ground, said Parcak, so Egypt’s government uses her catalog to identify sites and excavate there before development takes over and destroys the site for good.
All photos — Sarah H Parcak, University of Alabama at Birmingham, via Live Science.
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Fascinating stuff Deborah !!! You are a walking encyclopedia of information.. !!!
I will have another go at stumbling this terrific article..!!!!
Thanks so much Kim
It’s incredible that they’ve been able locate this area and work to salvage it due to the wonders of satellite!
Deborah, As kim says you seem to me as a walking encarta. I think god has blessed you with enough patience. You have written in detail.
Haha, thanks Honey Bee, I merely regurgitate things that I find interesting