If only Howard Carter had access to satellite imagery, maybe he would have discovered more than just King Tut’s tomb. Fortunately, Google Earth means that anyone can examine the planet for last treasures. Including Angela Micol, a satellite archaeology researcher who thinks she has uncovered previously undiscovered ancient pyramids, hiding in plain sight in Egypt.
Midol, who lives in North Carolina, came across two sites about 150 kilometres apart from each other that bear all the hallmarks of ancient pyramid sites. The first is about 42.6 metres wide with a flat top, indicating that erosion has whittled away at its pointed tip. Three other mounds extend out from it, almost like a tail. If that arrangement sounds familiar, it’s much like how the famous pyramids at Giza are arranged.
Consider, too, that the site is two miles east of Dimai, an ancient city that is thought to have been founded by Ptolemy II all the way back around third century BC. And that the constructs appear to be built from mudbrick and stone — just like the ruins of that city.
The other site, 12 miles from the city Abu Sidhum near the Nile — where all Egyptian pyramids are located — has four mounds with triangular tops. Two are bigger and two are smaller, 76.2 feet wide and 30.48 feet wide respectively. From the looks of it, the four buildings have been very deliberately arranged, very similarly to a nearby triangle-shaped plateau.
It’s easy to read too much into Google Earth sightings, and people do it all the time. But in this case, egyptologist and pyramid expert Nabil Selim has confirmed that these may well be the real thing. Not even one percent of ancient Egypt has been excavated. And this isn’t the first time a little virtual digging has recovered lost treasures in Egypt. Last year, egyptologist and UAB professor Sarah Parcak announced that she found 17 pyramids, 3,100 ancient settlements, and upwards of 1,000 tombs with the aid of infrared satellite images. That’s a lot of mummies.