ASU software engineer documents military damage to archaeological sites

Archaeologist and Arizona State University scientific software engineer Stephen Savage recently penned an article for Slate's Future Tense regarding the destruction of important archaeological sites by terrorist group ISIS.

Though this behavior has been condemned worldwide, it's not new, says Savage: "Destruction of archaeological sites has been an ongoing feature in virtually all the modern wars in the Middle East."

Specifically the area in the northern Fertile Crescent, where there is a dense concentration of ancient sites.

Savage, who specializes in satellite image analysis, is using declassified Corona spy satellite data from the late 1960s to early 1970s to examine several hundred archaeological sites and document the damage incurred by military operations.