4 Amazing Archeological Finds - and How To Protect Others Like Them

10/10/2017 4 amazing archeological finds and how to protect others like them |
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WE HUMANS
4 amazing archeological nds and how you can

help protect others like them
Feb 1, 2017 / Sarah Parcak
The temples at Angkor Wat are a well known travel destination, but in 2016 archaeologists discovered several medieval cities hidden
beneath them. Photo: iStock
Space archaeologist Sarah Parcak highlights 4 thrilling recent

finds and shows us how we can safeguard ancient sites with
GlobalXplorer, her new online citizen science platform.
Archaeologists worship at the temple of possibility. We travel thousands of miles and dig
for years under hot suns, hoping to discover something that will help us unravel the
mysteries of the past. I can attest that when your trowel finally strikes something, time
https://ideas.ted.com/4-amazing-archeological-finds-and-how-you-can-help-protect-others-like-them/ 1/11
stands still the past and the present collide, and the thrill of discovery courses through
you.
In our Google Mapped world, its tempting to think everything significant out there has
already been found. That is not the case. All over the planet, my colleagues are using new
technology to discover amazing things. These finds are rewriting our history, showing us
that humans lived bigger and more boldly than we ever imagined. Here are my picks for the
most intriguing discoveries of 2016.
Countless visitors have explored Angkor Wat in Cambodia for centuries, without
realizing that a vast maze of humanity once existed around the site. My colleague
Damian Evans studied the surrounding terrain using LIDAR technology his team scanned
an area of more than 700 miles, sending down laser pulses from a helicopter to see
through the vegetation. In June they revealed what they found: multiple medieval cities
hidden on the forest floor. The cities are estimated to have been built between 900 and
1,400 years ago, and theyre huge, comparable in size to Cambodias modern capital,
Phnom Penh. These cities suggest that the Angkor Empire was much larger than previously
thought possibly the largest empire in the world in the 12th century.
At Must Farm, near the town of Peterborough in the UK, an archaeological team has
found a level of preservation on par with Pompeii. Its rare to find organic materials at
ancient sites, because they decompose with exposure to air and water. However, at this site,
theyve identified five circular houses each built on stilts raised above the wetlands
which apparently burned down just months after they were built. The burned homes sank
into the bog where silt blocked out the air. Researchers here have unearthed balls of
knotted twine, even porridge and barley dating back 3,000 years still in bowls. Other
objects included buckets, jars, swords and spears, as well as high-quality textiles made
from flax, nettle and lime-tree bark, woven from thread as fine as human hair, and glass
beads, crafted in the Mediterranean or Middle East and showing a connection to global
trade. Two of the latest, greatest discoveries at Must Farm were a wheel about three feet in
diameter the earliest, largest and most well-preserved of its kind in the UK and horse
bones, which suggest the residents might have travelled by cart. The exciting implication:
that people in the Late Bronze Age led a far more sophisticated life than we believed.
For centuries, historians have wondered about Jesuss tomb: is it inside the Edicule
shrine at Jerusalems Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as long believed? Even if this was
indeed the original burial place, the site has gone through unthinkable transformations
over the years Hadrian built a temple there as a show of Roman power, Constantine
replaced it with a church, the Sassanid Empire burned it and the Crusaders restored it. To
prevent pilgrims from taking pieces of the limestone burial bed, the tomb was encased in
marble sometime around 1555. But inOctober 2016, conservationists from the National
Technical University of Athens removed the marble plate covering the tomb. Part of a larger
effort to reinforce and restore the Edicule from water damage, the procedure had to be done
with incredible care and speed in only 60 hours. Just before their window of work closed,
researchers found the original burial bed under a layer of debris. Early accounts reported
that Jesus was buried in the family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Jewish follower,
and the findings appeared consistent with that. While the tomb has now been resealed in
marble, the data from the excavation should provide scholars with years of material to
study.
A duo of fascinating discoveries in Belize has added to our knowledge of Maya

civilization. At the site of Xunantunich, Kathryn Brown and her team spent the month of
July 2016 excavating a doorway in the temple of El Castillo. When they opened it, they saw
it led to a hidden stairway and chamber, filled with carved and painted symbols dating
back 1,300 years. Some of the images were masterful, but others were like chicken scratch.
The team came to an intriguing conclusion: the room was divided into sections, and the
haphazard markings were actually copies of the skillful ones. Brown believes this was a
Maya scribal academy for elites the Harvard or Yale of its day? and it may shed light on
how Maya scribes learned their art. Nearby, archaeologist Jaime Awe and his team
excavated another staircase, which brought them to one of the largest royal tombs found in
Belize. Inside were the remains of a muscular man in his 20s, along with jaguar and deer
bones and a set of hieroglyphic panels. The panels match, and help fill in, incomplete sets
found elsewhere in the country. They appear to tell the story of an ancient dynasty, the so-
called Snake kings, who ruled the Mayan world in the 7th century A.D.
These are just a few of the incredible discoveries made in the past year but in the
same period, acts of unthinkable destruction have also taken place. On January 20
2017, we learned that ISIL had blown up two more iconic monuments at the site of Palmyra
in Syria; days later, 75 people were arrested in Europe for trafficking in archaeological
relics. Were in a race against time. There may be hundreds of thousands, maybe millions,
of ancient sites around the world that we dont know about, and theyre in danger every
moment that they remain unsecured.
You can help archaeologists by using one simple tool: satellite imagery. I am a space
archaeologist my team and I take high-resolution satellite images captured hundreds of
miles above the earths surface and analyze them to discern patterns in the vegetation and
soil below that might signal manmade features otherwise hidden from view. But we cant
work fast enough, so weve created GlobalXplorer.org. Its a citizen science platform, built
with the 2016 TED Prize and the help of the National Geographic Society and DigitalGlobe,
that trains people to search small tiles of satellite imagery for signs of looting and
unsecured sites. Anyone with a computer, a keen eye and free time can join in.
Our first campaign focuses on the highlands and deserts of Peru. As GlobalXplorers identify
looting, the data will be passed along to Perus Ministry of Culture and to on-the-ground
partners, who will create plans for protection and excavation. I cant wait to see what users
discover and what new clues to the mysteries of our past will be found. Start exploring, and
who knows? Maybe youll help make the next big discovery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Parcak Archaeologist Sarah Parcak uses satellite images to locate lost, ancient sites. The winner of
the 2016 TED Prize, her mapping of sites will be one way we can help to protect the past.
archaeology Global Xplorer Sarah Parcak space archaeology TED Prize
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10/10/2017 4 amazing archeological finds and how to protect others like them |

4 amazing archeological nds and how you can

Space archaeologist Sarah Parcak highlights 4 thrilling recent

A duo of fascinating discoveries in Belize has added to our knowledge of Maya

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

archaeology Global Xplorer Sarah Parcak space archaeology TED Prize

FRESH IDEAS IN YOUR INBOX

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