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Technology

Cold war spy satellites and AI detect ancient underground aqueducts

Archaeologists are using AI and US spy satellite imagery from the
cold war to find ancient underground aqueducts that helped humans
survive in the desert

By Jeremy Hsu

16 September 2024

      

[SEI_221895006]

Holes at the top of this image are vertical shafts to underground
aqueducts called qanats

Nazarij Bulawka et al

Most of the ancient underground aqueducts that enabled humans to
settle in the world's hottest and driest regions have been lost over
time. Now, archaeologists are rediscovering them by using artificial
intelligence to analyse spy satellite images taken during the cold
war.

The oldest known underground aqueducts that are found across much of
North Africa and the Middle East are called qanats and are up to 3000
years old. They were designed to carry water from highland or
mountain...

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