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MikeyT

Satellite survey unearths lost Egyptian pyramids

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Posted

Don't know how many people will actually find this interesting but figured i'd post it anyway.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/25/3226987.htm

A new satellite survey of Egypt has identified 17 lost pyramids and more than 1,000 un-excavated tombs.

The team from the University of Alabama analysed images from satellites orbiting the earth that have infrared cameras which can highlight different materials under the ground.

Satellite archaeologists were able to identify ancient Egyptian houses, temples and tombs made of mud-brick, which is much denser than the surrounding soil.

More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements have been revealed so far.

Preliminary excavations have already confirmed some of the findings, including the existence of two buried pyramids at Sakkara raising the possibility that it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.

Dr Sarah Parcak from the university's archaeological team told the BBC she was amazed at how much she and her team found.

"We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the aha moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we'd found and I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt," she said.

"It just shows us how easy it is to underestimate both the size and scale of past human settlements."

Dr Parcak told the BBC there may be more antiquities yet to be discovered.

"These are just the sites [close to] the surface," she said.

"There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt. This is just the beginning of this kind of work."

Dr Parcak said the new satellite technology will be a boon for archaeologists.

"It's an important tool to focus where we're excavating. It gives us a much bigger perspective on archaeological sites. We have to think bigger and that's what the satellites allow us to do," she said.

Posted

Thats actually exciting news, I love things like that.

Would like to see the images, though I'm sure they will be out soon enough.

Great find Mikey :thumbup:

Posted

Thats actually exciting news, I love things like that.

Would like to see the images, though I'm sure they will be out soon enough.

Great find Mikey :thumbup:

Thank you mate. Yeah i like stuff like this too. Just wasn't sure how many others would find it interesting.

Hopefully hear more in a few months if and when they are allowed to start excavating properly.

Posted

That's fascinating. :)

Went to the valley of kings a few years back and watched a new tomb being excavated, was bloody awesome!

Posted

They're advertising a TV programme about this on C4 I think.

EDIT; Ok it's on BBC. I knew I'd seen the trailer.

Posted

That's fascinating. :)

Went to the valley of kings a few years back and watched a new tomb being excavated, was bloody awesome!

Now i'm jealous :(

They're advertising a TV programme about this on C4 I think.

Oooh cool! Cheers! :D

Posted

Scroll down a bit and there is a video of a city discovered via infa-red

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13522957

Egypt's Lost Cities is on BBC One on Monday 30 May at 2030 BST.

Isn't Tanis the place where in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones goes with the staff and crystal to find where the well of souls is (Where the ark is meant to be)? Oooh Geek alert with my Indiana Jones trivia. :blush:

Posted

Thats actually exciting news, I love things like that.

Would like to see the images, though I'm sure they will be out soon enough.

Great find Mikey :thumbup:

Not sure about that. They dont like to reveal the location of old wrecks until they know they have cleared the site.

Good stuff. Micky

Posted

Not sure about that. They dont like to reveal the location of old wrecks until they know they have cleared the site.

Good stuff. Micky

Who? :P

Posted

Isn't Tanis the place where in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones goes with the staff and crystal to find where the well of souls is (Where the ark is meant to be)? Oooh Geek alert with my Indiana Jones trivia. :blush:

Oh, geekiness!

Yes it is.

No one knows exactly what happened to the Ark of the Covenant though. It just drops off the face of the earth. It's only mentioned in the Bible (no secular records mention it ) and it's like it's mentioned a lot during the early history of Israel/Judah (I'll just call them Israel from now on) and then towards the end (Israel was effectively wiped out and taken into slavery by the Babylonians in the 7th century BC) it never gets mentioned again, in fact over a hundred years before the Babylonians sack Jerusalem. Could be they took it, but also as the film says the Egyptian's also successfully attacked Israel before then and after the last mention of it in the Bible.

Pretty much your guess is as good as mine. Some interesting theories though, including England and Ireland. :o

Posted

Oh, geekiness!

Yes it is.

No one knows exactly what happened to the Ark of the Covenant though. It just drops off the face of the earth. It's only mentioned in the Bible (no secular records mention it ) and it's like it's mentioned a lot during the early history of Israel/Judah (I'll just call them Israel from now on) and then towards the end (Israel was effectively wiped out and taken into slavery by the Babylonians in the 7th century BC) it never gets mentioned again, in fact over a hundred years before the Babylonians sack Jerusalem. Could be they took it, but also as the film says the Egyptian's also successfully attacked Israel before then and after the last mention of it in the Bible.

Pretty much your guess is as good as mine. Some interesting theories though, including England and Ireland. :o

There's theories also that the Holy Grail is in Rosslyn chapel in Scotland, but then there's theories what the Holy Grail even is as well though, isn't there. Sorry, i went off on a random tangent there.

Posted

There's theories also that the Holy Grail is in Rosslyn chapel in Scotland, but then there's theories what the Holy Grail even is as well though, isn't there. Sorry, i went off on a random tangent there.

Don't believe everything you read in the Da Vinci Code :ph34r:

Isn't there supposed to be a monastery in Ethiopia claiming to have it?

Posted

Don't believe everything you read in the Da Vinci Code :ph34r:

Isn't there supposed to be a monastery in Ethiopia claiming to have it?

Yes there is, but of course, they prevent anyone from seeing it, strange that

Posted

Don't believe everything you read in the Da Vinci Code :ph34r:

Isn't there supposed to be a monastery in Ethiopia claiming to have it?

Yeah there is. I can't remember what it was called, but there was a documentary about where it could be and what it actually is. If you believe in all that stuff of course.

Posted

Holy grail?

No such thing. Move on.

I think youl find there is....

It's called The Premier League, or is that the Promised Land? :dunno:

Posted

Don't believe everything you read in the Da Vinci Code :ph34r:

The Da Vinci "Everything-in-this-book-is-true" Code. Don't get me started.

I could let all the mistakes in it pass if there wasn't this big "this is the truth!" theme running through it. My favourite bit is when Sophie's car is claimed to be able to do 80km to the litre... or about 185 miles per gallon. :rolleyes:

Oh, and if it wasn't written really badly too.

Posted

Absolutely fantastic news for me. I love ancient history.

Although most of the books I own are related to Roman history, I also have a fair few on Egyptian.

Bring it all on! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Posted

Absolutely fantastic news for me. I love ancient history.

Although most of the books I own are related to Roman history, I also have a fair few on Egyptian.

Bring it all on! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Same here. Unfortunately for me, i can read a book, fully engrossed in it and 10 minutes after finishing it, i can't remember a thing about it. Just one of those people that doesn't seem to be able to retain any information. lol

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