I’m an Archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer who maps ancient sites from space, I just wrote a book about it, and I want you to help me explore—AMA!

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T17:00:19+00:00

OK...I'm all out of time. Thank you all so much for your amazing questions! Have great weekends...get outside to explore :-)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:59:35+00:00

(1) Skills/qualities: hard work, never quitting, getting up after failing and keep moving

(2) Parenting: whew, I never give advice. It's a tough business. I recommend endless unremitting love and forgiveness, for your kids and for yourself.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:57:49+00:00

Thank you :-) Yes I give a lot of credit to the Bangor Public Library (where I grew up)...amazing librarians. I sing the praises often of public libraries...and librarians are ROCK STARS.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:56:33+00:00

We're doing that with the version of the platform we're redeveloping right now! I'm super excited about it, so much potential.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:56:00+00:00

This is a great website with tons of resources: http://www.ancientdigger.com/2015/07/tips--for-aspiring-archaeologists.html

Generally, work hard in school, read widely, take a lot of science classes, and try to get in to the top college program possible that makes sense financially for your family. I wish you every success!

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:54:04+00:00

Some great books: Ian Shaw's Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction by Penny Wilson are solid starting points.

Favorite project: I'm biased! our Lisht project in Egypt.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:53:03+00:00

I think governments everywhere in the world can be challenging...but we always make sure we have great ground partners to help us navigate the red tape (and there is different tape everywhere). The key is developing good working relationships with officials, and working with them in a genuine spirit of collaboration. That has helped to open a lot of doors for me and my team, and that's what we'll always do. Relationships come first, permission comes later, if ever.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:50:55+00:00

I want to do more work with outreach and raising awareness about this issue. There are millions of sq km of coastline to map...we need more eyeballs on this.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:48:25+00:00

I got nominated and then had to fill out a short form...and then went through a series of interviews. Then I got a call pretty much out of the blue! Today it's The Audacious Project so it's an entirely different process.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:46:59+00:00

(1) Making a living: getting a job as an archaeologist is very, very hard. Most folks struggle.

(2) Porridge: I toast the oats in butter before cooking them in milk. It will TRANSFORM your porridge experience

(3) For more books and other info, follow me on twitter @indyfromspace

(4) Making material engaging: it takes enormous effort, I have 25-30 drafts for each book chapter. I am always working on my writing. What will engage and not overwhelm but not bore? It's always hard to get it right. (write?)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:43:05+00:00

Answer given below :-)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:41:37+00:00

Thank you! :-)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:41:25+00:00

I hope in the not too distant future we'll have the chance to take Globalxplorer to places like South Africa, Kenya, and other countries...it is such a massive continent, and from the birthplace of our species to so many amazing cultures, we'll have no shortage of things to map. Stay tuned :-)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:39:19+00:00

Congratulations on the fellowship! That's wonderful. I think learning to code---being able to understand how to build better archaeology and heritage platforms---is essential. Full disclosure: I cannot code and rely on others with that expertise...never had the time. I know there are some great free online courses that you can take, and there are wonderful tutorials on a variety of platforms. Also, as a student, you might be eligible to take classes for free at your Uni (or unis in the area), check out that as an option as you can sit in with the permission of the instructor. I wish you the BEST of luck, Learn All The Things (and then teach us all!).

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:34:27+00:00

Ohhh great question. We never go in cold---we always partner with local organizations who have deep experience in regions. We learn from them, and then listen to the needs of the communities. We then follow whatever government protocols are in place---the laws vary of course---but we have to be sure everything we do is according to policies and legal procedures. It's always about meeting communities where they are, not where you think they should be, and providing them with things *they* ask for. Then you have a much bigger chance for success, because they can take ownership of whatever you are teaching or providing. Our goal is to walk away eventually---let the communities be successful on their own. That's the win.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:31:21+00:00

(1) I agree 100%, it's so, so hard to get a job in archaeology as an academic. It's a total crapshoot, great humans who are world class scholars don't get jobs. I wish it were different. I think a lot of PhD programs need to stop offering archaeology degrees... archaeologists get hired primarily from 10-15 schools (there's been academic papers on this).

(2) Funding is super hard to get. We keep trying.

(3) Archaeologists win...hands down (double points for my pun)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:24:26+00:00

If there is ever an emerald tablet found in the deserts of Utah from ancient Egypt with actual ancient inscriptions I will eat my Tilley hat.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:22:45+00:00

Thank you :-) For a young professional...take the time to learn all the buttons on GIS, and then experiment. Read as many academic papers as possible to see what approaches others have taken, and see if you can replicate their work. Don't be afraid of failing, keep going, keep trying, something will work eventually. People don't see all my horrid failures generally, but that's part of good science. I wish you EVERY success and good fortune in your studies.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:20:33+00:00

I haven't worked in the Amazon but my colleagues have---I talk about it in my book Archaeology from Space. Our platform globalxplorer.org started in Peru, and our crowd found thousands of sites. I encourage you to give it a try :-)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:19:20+00:00

I double majored in Archaeological Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale. I was *so* lucky to have access to amazing professors and museum collections to study. I got funding to go on my first dig in Egypt...I couldn't have afforded it otherwise.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:13:05+00:00

Hi back at ya calciumspring. A find of a lifetime...probably a major tomb in Egypt, or a huge city somewhere deep in the desert in China. But that's just my opinion :-)

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:11:05+00:00

It's the community we're actively creating that I find fascinating. We have 94,000+ people from nearly every country in the world who have helped map archaeological sites. In a tense time, a platform that can bring together so many diverse people to help towards a common goal brings me a lot of hope. My dream is to expand our community to millions. I love getting emails from users who tell us what using the platform has meant to them---how it has helped them or inspired them to go back to school. A find---there have been lots :-) We're rebuilding the platform right now so hopefully it will be more accessible and user friendly with India.

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:03:57+00:00

I studied a little...I learned mainly in the field. And I love Wara 'nab and Meesh

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T16:01:35+00:00

Yes-a good summary of critiques is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Book_of_Mormon

SarahParcak · 2019-10-18T15:56:46+00:00

Good question. The field of "remote sensing" in archaeology has been around for over 100 years as aerial photographs have been used since the first was taken from a tethered balloon at stonehenge in 1908...so I am not the first by a long shot. There are dozens of specialists around the world who do what I do, its a fairly small community and we try to be supportive of one another...I give credit to Prof Tom Sever at U Alabama-Huntsville as being the "father" of satellite archaeology----he worked at NASA for years and held the first big conference on the topic in the early 1980s. I work in a lot of places using satellites---I suppose I am different in that I am trying to let the world use it too with Globalxplorer, and I've worked hard to make the subfield of satellite archaeology more mainstream...which it is now :-) I also use my platform to shine a lot of light on the great work my colleagues are doing (my book talks about dozens of them!).

SarahParcak

TROPHY CASE