University of Alabama at Birmingham By US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak
Sarah Helen Parcak, Ph.D is an American archaeologist, Egyptologist, and remote sensing expert, who has used satellite imaging to identify potential archaeological sites in Egypt, Rome, and elsewhere in the former Roman Empire. She is the associate professor of Anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In partnership with her husband, Dr. Greg Mumford, she directs survey and excavation projects in the Faiyum, Sinai, and Egypt’s East Delta.
Parcak was born in Bangor, Maine, and received her bachelor’s degree in Egyptology and Archaeological Studies from Yale University in 2001 and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She is an associate professor of Anthropology in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); prior to that she was a teacher of Egyptian art and history at the University of Wales, Swansea.
From 2003 to 2004, Parcak used a combination of satellite imaging analysis and surface surveys to search for 132 potential sites of archaeological interest, some dating back to 3,000 B.C.
In partnership with her husband, Dr. Greg Mumford, she directs Survey and Excavation Projects in the Fayoum, Sinai, and Egypt’s East Delta. They have used several types of satellite imagery to look for water sources and possible archaeological sites. According to Parcak, this approach reduces the time and cost for determining archaeological sites compared to surface detection.
In 2007 she founded the Laboratory for Global Health Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In 2015 she won the $1 million TED Prize for 2016.
In 2015 Parcak visited L’Anse aux Meadows – an archeological site discovered in 1960 in Newfoundland – in order to demonstrate that satellite imagery can detect artifacts in regions covered by tall grasses and other plant life