Crowdsourcing Antiquities Crime Fighting

Abstract

In early 2017, Sarah Parcak used her million TED Prize to build the GlobalXplorer° platform to identify and quantify looting and encroachment to sites of archaeological and historical importance, using a crowdsourced citizen science methodology popularized by the Zooniverse web portal. GlobalXplorer° invited the public to search satellite imagery from Peru for evidence of looting within 100 m × 100 m squares, training them along the way and gamifying participation. In this review, I test the platform and consider the applicability of GlobalXplorer° as a vector for changing the way that the general public perceives the global illicit trade in cultural objects.