From 2003 to 2004, Parcak used a combination of satellite imaging analysis and surface surveys to discover 17 new pyramid and thousands of sites of archaeological interest, some dating back to 3,000 B.C. In partnership with her husband, Dr. Greg Mumford, she directs Survey and Excavation Projects in the Fayoum, Sinai, and Egypt's East Delta. They have used several types of satellite imagery to look for water sources and possible archaeological sites. According to Parcak, this approach reduces the time and cost for determining archaeological sites compared to surface detection. In 2007, she founded the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2009, satellite imagery was evidence of how looting had escalated in Egypt. In 2011, Parcak claims to have discovered 17 previously unknown pyramids in Egypt as well as more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 settlements. although the Minister of State for Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, said that this claim was "not accurate" In 2015, she won the $1 million TED Prize for 2016. In 2016, she was the recipient of Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2020, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 2020 Fellowship.
Documentaries
In May 2011, the BBC aired a documentary, Egypt's Lost Cities, describing BBC-sponsored research carried out by Parcak's UAB team for over a year using infra-red satellite imaging from commercial and NASA satellites. The programme discussed the research and showed Parcak in Egypt looking for physical evidence. The UAB team announced that they had "discovered" 17 pyramids, more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements outside Sa el-Hagar, Egypt. However, the Minister of State for Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, was critical of the announcement and said : "This is completely wrong information. Any archeologist will deny this completely". In May 2012, she was the subject of a half-hour program on CNN's The Next List which profiles innovators "who are setting trends and making strides in various fields." She was the focus of "Rome's Lost Empire", a TV documentary by Dan Snow, first shown on BBC One on 9 December 2012. She prospectively identified several significant sites in Romania, Nabataea, Tunisia, and Italy, including the arena at Portus, the lighthouse and a canal to Rome beside the riverTiber. A BBC co-production with PBS, NOVA/WGBH Boston and France Television, Vikings Unearthed documented her use of satellite imagery to detect possible remains of a Norse / Viking presence at Point Rosee, Newfoundland. In 2015, Parcak found what she thought to be the remains of a turf wall and roasted bog iron ore, however, the 2016 excavation showed that the "turf wall" and accumulation of bog iron ore were the results of natural processes.
Publications
In 2009, her book Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology was published by Routledge, describing the methodology of satellite archaeology. A review in Antiquity described it as focusing "more on technical methodology than interpretation and analysis," described Parcak's work as, "written in a lively style that makes a highly technical subject accessible to a general audience," and concluded that it was "a good introduction for undergraduate students of archaeology, anthropology and geography." She published Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past in July 2019.
