Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

A fascinating look at the use of high technology to unlock the secrets of the past and to research the material remains of ancient civilisations.

Hardly any pictures. To many words.

I would recommend this to any one with an interest in archaeology!! So many well explained sites and the various tools used in space archaeology and their aid in finding sites. She may have spoiled me for reading other authors. If you have enjoyed the recent book « Three stones make a Wall » I suspect you will like this book even more.

A few years ago I read Leo Duel's classic, Flights Into Yesterday (1969), on how aerial flights and technology were ushering a new revolution in archaeology. In passing, Duel muses, "Perhaps it is only a question of time until [satellites] will be made to screen the past and relay to us from far away its long-muted messages." So here we are, decades later, and Sarah Parcak has picked up the story.Parcak's book is a mix of memoir, adventure, and archaeology on the cutting edge. She shows how archaeology is a more active field now than it ever has been. Her enthusiastic book is needed because so many people don't see archaeology as a vibrant career path. She also discusses its importance of the past informing our choices. It's sad how history seems to be abandoned by university. Their primary purpose is to preserve and pass on human heritage and knowledge, but they have lost their way. As Parcak details, the past has always been diverse in culture, and new cultures form by combining — and borrowing — from each other. Tell that to the non-thinkers who are triggered by "cultural appropriation." Cultures are built by appropriation.Parcak mentions that not only through ruins, but through our DNA we are all connected and related to each other, and our amcestors. This is true more than people realize (see Signature in the Cell by Stephen Meyer, or The Cell's Design by Fuz Rana), in far deeper ways. If only people weren't so hypnotized by their smartphones and televisions, they would experience the amazing world — and past — that they live in. Archaeology from Space gives us a needed window into that world.

Molto bello ma è arrivato un po' rovinato.

This was a fun book to read. Are there such things as mom jokes (when a mom makes a dad joke)? I got them and looked forward to the next. That said, the author has a talent for appealing to the lay reader, creative writing, and as a a futurist, and does not spare the footnotes and academic apparatus for the student. This is a rare talent among archaeologists.As the title suggests, this book discusses projects that used remote sensing (mostly). The author is an Egyptologist and the material focuses a lot on this area, but she steps out of her comfort zone and covers other areas including the Vikings, Mayans, and Romans. The book also covers issues in archaeology that are not related to remote sensing or space, but since she has your attention, she aptly uses the forum.I would recommend this book for a supplement to an intro course (covered many of the examples in my intro) and for anyone interested in how remote sensing can play a role on a project. The author has a more focused book on the principles and practice of remote sensing. I did skim parts and would suggest it is more archaeology and space, as the remote sensing was just a moment in the plot versus a focus, the hence the four stars.

Sarah Parcak's passion and enthusiasm spring off the page and pull you into her word of exciting discoveries and hopeful potential for the future of archaeology. Beautifully written in a captivating way that makes you feel you are right beside her at each discovery she recounts. Even if you're not that into archaeology, the new technologies begin developed in satellite imagery are fascinating. A wonderful book I couldn't put down until I was finished!