Egypt’s recent tourism slump caused by civil unrest could be given a boost as news emerges that archaeologists have discovered evidence of 17 underground pyramids, more than 1000 undiscovered tombs and 3000 settlements.
Sarah Parcak
As tourist numbers slumped by some 46% in the year’s first quarter, the BBC is set to televise a programme detailing how US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, US, has used infra-red images taken of the desert in Egypt to find a wealth of hidden treasures.
In the programme, Egypt’s Lost Cities, to be shown on May 30, Dr Parcak says: “We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the "Aha!" moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we’d found and I couldn’t believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt.”
It is believed the newly-discovered pyramids were covered by Nile silt and Dr Parcak believes there could be many more sites yet to discover. Test excavations are now happening in Saqqara, which have unearthed the new pyramids.
by Dinah Hatch
