Ancient heritage

Brief

Our oldest structures, sites and artefacts, dating back many hundreds or thousands of years, provide evocative subject matter for the globetrotting photographer and history buff. In some locations structures remain intact or have been reconstructed, such as at Pompeii or Stonehenge, whilst in others there are only the merest traces of ancient civilisations remaining. Some sites are very well known, and photographed by many photographers each day, so present a real challenge if an original image is being sought. Photographing ancient artefacts usually involves photographing in museums, and here the challenges involve glass, permissions and limited viewpoints. We’re not sticking to a strict definition of ancient, but we could say that subjects must be no later in their origin than the Middle Ages.