Image of the Day October 1st, 2019

This image shows the progression of looting sites at an archaeologically rich part of Egypt, just south of Cairo. The round holes that increase over time are looting sites, which are noticeable due to their shape and their scattered cluster pattern. The observable ruins to the north of the looting sites are archaeological dig sites, and are clearly distinct from looting pits. This makes tracking archaeological looting very easy in exposed desert such as in Egypt. The time scale is also important, as it tracks Egypt through crisis, both 2008 and 2011, and how looting increased over this period of economic and political crisis, respectively. Satellite imagery is thus giving archaeologists new tools to monitor sites which previously would require constant on-the-ground policing, which is expensive and logistically difficult.