Parcak plans to use prize money in saving archaeological sites in the Middle East.
By Raghavendra M
TED Prize 2016 has been announced and this time an archaeologist has received the prestigious award for her efforts in locating ancient archaeological sites in the Middle East using modern satellite technology and helping in saving them from destruction.
Announcing the prize in a blog post, TED described Sarah Parcak, an anthropology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the founder of Laboratory for Global Observation at the university, as a “modern-day Indiana Jones” for her achievements.
Parcak gained international attention in 2011 when she satellite-mapped all of Egypt, identifying thousands of undiscovered sites. She also wrote a textbook on satellite archaeology. She is now using satellite data to fight the looting happening at archaeological sites across the Middle East.
Parcak used infrared imagery from satellites to identify ancient sites lost in time. In Egypt, she helped locate 17 potential pyramids, plus 1,000 forgotten tombs and 3,100 unknown settlements. And that’s in addition to her discoveries throughout the Roman Empire, according to TED post.
“The last four and half years have been horrific for archaeology. I’ve spent a lot of time, as have many of my colleagues, looking at the destruction,” she said. “This Prize is not about me. It’s about our field. It’s about the thousands of men and women around the world, particularly in the Middle East, who are defending and protecting sites.”
Describing that discoveries aren’t made overnight and people don’t see the thousands of hours that go into it, Parcak said, “We can use this TED Prize to get the world involved”.
The TED Prize is a $1 million grant, given annually to “a bold leader with a wish to spark global change”. Last year, Dave Isay, the founder of the oral history project StoryCorps, won this award.