Satellite images have revealed the ruins of a long-lost civilisation which existed in what is now the Sahara desert in Roman times and before
According to David Mattingly, professor of Roman archaeology at Leicester uni, the vanished "Garamantes" culture was a highly advanced one
“In fact, they were highly civilised, living in large-scale fortified settlements ... It was an organised state with towns and villages, a written language and state of the art technologies. The Garamantes were pioneers in establishing oases and opening up Trans-Saharan trade,” says the prof.
Satellites orbiting 400 miles above earth have revealed numerous hidden ancient sites across Egypt, including 17 pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements,
The contours of ancient Egyptian homes and other buildings appear in infrared imagery because they were constructed from mud brick, a dense material that stands out from surrounding soil. As a result, the satellite images showed both known archaeological sites that have been studied and excavated for decades and other ancient treasures ostensibly buried deep beneath the sand
For Parcak, the precise mapping afforded by the technology has the potential to shed light on the daily lives of ancient Egyptians and the relationship they had with their natural environment.