New Scientist reports

INDIANA JONES, put down your whip. These days all you need to scour the globe for archaeological sites is a desktop computer.

David Kennedy of the University of Western Australia has discovered almost 2000 potential archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia from his office chair in Perth – and all it took was Google Earth’s high-resolution satellite images. “I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia,” he says. “It’s not the easiest country to get into.”

Instead, Kennedy scanned a 1240-square-kilometre area in Saudi Arabia on Google Earth. He found 1977 possible archaeological sites, including 1082 “pendants” – ancient stone tombs shaped like teardrops.

According to Kennedy, aerial photography of Saudi Arabia is not made available to most archaeologists, and it’s difficult, if not impossible, to fly over the nation. “But, Google Earth can outflank them,” he says.

To find out more check out New Scientist.