17 lost pyramids found in Egypt

As reported by Rob Crilly in the Daily Telegraph on May 25, 2011:

Seventeen lost pyramids and more than 1,000 tombs have been found in a new satellite survey of Egypt.

Scientists at the University of Alabama also found 3,000 ancient settlements using a new technique of infra-red imaging.

The astonishing results have been confirmed by archaeologists with picks and shovels, who have located two of the pyramids found from space...

...The team analysed images from satellites orbiting 400 miles above the Earth, equipped with cameras so powerful they can pinpoint objects less than a yard in diameter.

Infra-red imaging was then used to highlight different materials under the surface.

Because the ancient Egyptians built houses from mud brick, which is must denser than surrounding soil, they left a clear fingerprint that the researchers could identify as tombs, pyramids or homes.

The technique is so powerful that it can even be used to monitor sites for looting.

And Dr Parcak believes there are many more buildings buried deeper than those already spotted – even under the River Nile.

"These are just the sites close to the surface. There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt," she said.