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A team of egyptologists led by Dr Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama, have been analysing images taken by satellites orbiting 700km above the Earth which have revealed to them 17 lost pyramids, more than 1,000 tombs and over 3,000 ancient settlements which had previously been covered over with silt from the Nile.

The cameras on these satellites are so powerful that they can pin-point objects less than 1m in diameter, and they use infra-red imaging which can highlight different materials under the surface. The technology works because the Ancient Egyptians built their houses and structures of mud brick - a material that is much denser than the soil that surrounds it - meaning the shapes of houses, temples and tombs can be seen in the satellite images.

Dr Parcak's "voyage of discovery", including her initial image analysis and subsequent trips to Egypt to witness first-hand whether test excavations of the suggested sites backed up her findings, can be seen in a new documentary being shown on BBC One on Monday 30 May called Egypt's Lost Cities.

The Egyptian authorities plan to use the technology to help - among other things - protect the country's antiquities in the future.During the recent revolution, looters accessed some well-known archaeological sites. Dr Parcak describes how: "We can tell from the imagery a tomb was looted from a particular period of time and we can alert Interpol to watch out for antiquities from that time that may be offered for sale."

This news story originally appeared on the BBC News website