Sarah Parcak wins $1M TED prize to combine archaeology, space imagery, and citizen science

Archaeologist Sarah Parcak uses satellite imagery to find previously undiscovered sites of ancient human activities. She also uses such images to detect looting of known sites. She describes her techniques in the TED talk video below. See also the Gallery: Archaeological mysteries hidden in satellite images.

Parcak won the million dollar TED Prize for 2016:

She will use the prize to develop the online Global Xplorer site to involve citizen scientists in using satellite imagery to find new archaeological sites and to protect known ones:

I wish for us to discover the millions of unknown archaeological sites across the globe. By building an online citizen science platform and training a 21st century army of global explorers, we’ll find and protect the world’s hidden heritage, which contains clues to humankind’s collective resilience and creativity.