Trigger
Today I received an email from National Geographic containing a link to this story “Cold War Spy-Satellite Images Unveil Lost Cities Cold War reconnaissance photos triple the number of known archaeology sites across the Middle East”.
This is perhaps one of the new exciting uses of the Corona reconnaissance satellite pictures that were declassified in 1995 (see here).
Why Is This Big News?
- These about 190,000 Cold War satellite spy photos of the wider region taken between 1960-72 were only released to public in the mid 1990s.
- Only over time were scientists able to map landmarks more precisely on today’s maps of the area
- Many of the areas showing possible archeological sites on these old pictures have been dramatically altered by human development and settlement over the past decades
- With the removal of dictators like Saddam Hussein, hopefully soon Bashar al Asad, and the Iranian dictatorship there is a good chance to resume serious archeological research in these areas
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