Sarah Parcak Quotes

With population pressures, urbanization, and modernization encroaching, we're in a race against time. Why not use the most advanced tools we have to map, quantify, and protect our past?

When we find something new at Giza, we announce it to the world. The Sphinx and the Pyramids are world treasures. We are the guardian's of these treasures, but they belong to the world.

You don't let a historic site rot.

A concerted effort to preserve our heritage is a vital link to our cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, and economic legacies - all of the things that quite literally make us who we are.

I really don’t make history; I preserve it.

You re being handed a national treasure. Your main responsibility is that whenever you may leave it, it still remains a national treasure.

I'm looking at looting photos from space, and there are people putting their lives on the line every day protecting their heritage. I call these people the real culture heroes.

I'm in a museum. I'm a relic.

Archaeology is not only the hand maid of history, it is also the conservator of art.

I believe the National Park Service has demonstrated strong partnerships geared towards respecting the private property of citizens in its administering of the current Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and will continue to do so upon the addition of the routes.

High among the unpredictable variables that endanger the survival of worthy buildings are the vagaries of taste.

We've got to map all of our ancient history before it's gone because, let's face it, if we don't have a common heritage to share, something to get excited about, then what are we living for?

The most basic task of any museum must be the protection of works of cultural significance entrusted to its care for the edification and pleasure of future generations.

You don't restore 'The Last Supper' by filling in the missing bits - you preserve. You accept the material that has somehow survived.

I would really love to go on an archaeological dig.

One of the things that I love to do is travel around the world and look at archaeological sites. Because archaeology gives us an opportunity to study past civilizations, and see where they succeeded and where they failed. Use science to, you know, work backwards and say, 'Well, really, what were they thinking?'

In museums and palaces we are alternate radicals and conservatives.

They are all very beautiful, but for the time it is not appropriate to leave them visible. Clean them and cover them over again carefully, so that they may survive until they are revealed to view in the future.

The desire to restore everything indiscriminately to its ancient condition is neither wise nor praiseworthy.

I like places that have history in the sense of - you feel responsible to it.

Ancient monuments 300 to 1000-plus years old are never 'renovated,' only 'restored,' a distinction that escapes the babus.

I am one of many people documenting damage and looting at ancient sites from space - it is such a crucial tool.

My parents always wanted me to learn about my culture and tried to make me eat Vietnamese food.

Pompeii is an extraordinary place to be because it was preserved exactly as it was. There are many other sites. If you visit any other antiquity-type sites throughout the world, they're very damaged with what's gone on over the centuries since they were abandoned. But this one was just, like, sealed, so you're looking at rock surfaces and the carving of letters and names in the stones looks like it was done yesterday.

I do love these ancient ruins. We never tread upon them but we set Our foot upon some reverend history.