The Past From Above

The Past From Above features aerial photographs of 250 of the worlds most notable archaeological sites. The photographer, Georg Gerster, has been documenting historic sites from the air for more than fifty years. In this collection, he covers a wide range of subjects, including the Karnak temple complex in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Athens, and Aztec palaces in Mexico. Gersters photographs are technological wonders in and of themselves, often shot in difficult settings, but they also serve as a visual history of humanity stretching back to the dawn of civilization. Charlotte Trumpler introduces the photographs with an introduction of the relevance of aerial photography in archaeological research. ‍