Ever popular Egypt holidays look set to increase in appeal after the BBC documentary:
Egypts Lost Cities, unveiled the findings of 17 lost pyramids during a new satellite survey that was carried out in the country.
The project was led by U.S Egyptologist, Dr Sarah Park, from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and at least two excavations have been confirmed as pyramids in Saqqara. Dr Sarah Park told the BBC:
I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the aha moment was when I could step back and look at everything that wed found. I couldnt believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt. To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist.
The team discovered the historic sites after analysing images from orbiting satellites located 400 miles above the Earth and equipped with powerful cameras that could pin-point objects less than one metre in diameter on the earths surface. Infra-red images were then used to highlight the different materials found beneath the surface.
Dr. Parcak said that she believes that the new findings are just a few of many sites which have yet to be discovered: "These are just the sites [close to] the surface. There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt. This is just the beginning of this kind of work."
More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also discovered and the new sites will eventually join the existing collection of ancient pyramids and tombs as some exciting, new tourist attractions for visitors taking holidays to Egypt.
The discovery is good news for the countrys tourism officials who have been working hard to promote holidays in Egypt after the disruption that the revolution revolt caused earlier this year. Many Egypt hotels are still seeing low occupancy levels in major cities.
Popular spots such as Cairo and Luxor have suffered since the political riots but many travellers have continued to take Egypt holidays in the countrys popular Red Sea diving resorts such asHurghada and Sharm el Sheikh.
Egypts most famous and historic pyramids can be found in Giza on the outskirts of Cairo, and the largest Egyptian pyramid is the Pyramid of Khufu.