Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Sarah Parcak, Bham Now BOLD Speaker Series, Cahaba Brewery, GlobalXplorer — Dr. Sarah Parcak and GlobalXplorer° understand that local citizens who know the culture are a crucial aspect of protecting cultural heritage sites. Photo submitted

Have you heard of Dr. Sarah Parcak, an Egyptologist, National Geographic Explorer, 2016 TED Prize winner and Birmingham local? Her Innovation Depot-based nonprofit, GlobalXplorer°, leads the global effort to find and protect our hidden cultural heritage. Learn how she does it at Bham Now’s BOLD Speaker Series event on Thursday, Oct. 18, at Cahaba Brewing Company. Tickets are $20 (includes a beverage from Cahaba Brewing and tacos from Taco Mama).

Event Details

Bham Now BOLD Speaker Series: Dr. Sarah Parcak
Date: Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Location: Cahaba Brewing Company, 4500 5th Ave. South, Birmingham, 35222
Admission: $20 – includes a beverage from Cahaba Brewing and tacos from Taco Mama
Good cause bonus: proceeds benefit GlobalXplorer°

Sarah Parcak giving TED talk — via TED.com

The goal of GlobalXplorer° is “to open minds to diverse ancient thought pathways thus deepening the connections people feel to one another across the globe. We want archaeology and our shared cultural heritage to inform and shape global-level thinking and decision-making.”

Saving Our Hidden Cultural Heritage

Millions of archaeological sites around the world await discovery. Conflict, looting, encroachment and environmental change threaten them. The solution? Crowdsourcing, state-of-the-art computing and mapping technologies, open-source data and community hubs of citizen archaeologists on the ground.

Through GlobalXplorer°, founded by Dr. Sarah Parcak, virtual citizen archaeologists based anywhere in the world, including Birmingham, assist with local field work. As new cultural heritage data is uncovered, a global platform makes it accessible to all. GlobalXplorer° began with Peru and is scaling up country by country. Cool, right?

Get tickets to see Dr. Sarah Parcak at Bham Now’s BOLD Speaker Series event on Oct. 18 at Cahaba Brewing Company before they sell out!

Here’s how it works:

Crowdsourcing: virtual citizen archaeologists study satellite images to look for and document potential visible heritage sites, county by country.
Boots on the ground: community hubs of citizen archaeologists, who live in and are familiar with the local culture, survey, document, protect and preserve cultural heritage sites.
Database: An open-source cultural heritage database catalogs the world’s diverse immobile cultural resources.
Blockchain technology: Originally developed to verify cryptocurrency transactions, blockchain has a host of applications. GlobalXplorer° is looking at using it to develop an antiquities registry to fight looting and black market sales.