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Conversations with Tyler

Sarah Parcak on Archaeology from Space

Conversations with Tyler

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2021

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What can new technology tell us about our ancient past? Archaeologist and remote sensing expert Sarah Parcak has used satellite imagery to discover over a dozen potential pyramids and thousands of tombs from ancient Egypt. A professor of anthropology and founding director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Sarah's work combines technology, historical study, and cultural anthropology to advance discoveries about the past while navigating the political and ethical dilemmas that plague excavation work today.

She joined Tyler to discuss what caused the Bronze Age Collapse, how well we understand the level of ancient technologies, what archaeologists may learn from the discovery of more than a hundred coffins at the site of Saqqara, how far the Vikings really traveled, why conservation should be as much of a priority as excavation, the economics of looting networks, the inherently political nature of archaeology, Indiana Jones versus The Dig, her favorite contemporary bluegrass artists, the best archaeological sites to visit around the world, the merits of tools like Google Earth and Lidar, the long list of skills needed to be a modern archaeologist, which countries produce the best amateur space archaeologists, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded February 25th, 2021

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,

0:08.4

bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.

0:12.6

Learn more at mercatis.org.

0:15.2

And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit

0:20.4

ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.

0:27.3

Hello everyone and welcome back to ConversationsWithT Tyler.

0:31.0

Today I'm very happy to be chatting with Sarah Parkack, I think of her as the space archaeologist.

0:37.3

She is a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

0:41.4

She has been a part of numerous television productions about archaeology and I very

0:45.6

much liked her book Archaeology From Space, How the Future Shapes Are Past.

0:50.8

Sarah, welcome.

0:51.8

Thank you so much for having me excited to be here.

0:54.8

Let's start with an easy question.

0:57.0

How about the 100 BC?

0:58.4

Why was there a late Bronze Age collapse?

1:01.6

It's a great question.

1:03.6

So, 1200 BC things were very similar to the way things are now.

1:10.8

There were global climate issues that led to significant reductions in people's ability

1:16.9

to access resources.

1:18.3

There were numerous wars and internal conflicts, a lot of pressure around migration.

1:25.4

And so, when you think about what's happening today with the pandemic and then so much

1:29.4

that's happening, you know, I think that things are not quite identical but close.

...

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