Old Pictures of People Looking at Ancient Things

I'm not sure why but I find these vintage National Geographic photos of people looking at ancient things completely fascinating. Maybe it's because I get to feel like an archaeologist when digging through photo archives that it's a little jarring to see people in the past uncovering the past. Obviously, as a child in school, I knew that not every discovery we learned about was current but I guess it just felt current to me because...I was learning about it for the first time. Looking at these pictures makes me feel connected to people generations before me. These artifacts and structures were ancient and mysterious to them the same way they are ancient and mysterious to me. Mankind has seen so many cycles of art and architecture. We can only look at what is left behind and try to put the pieces together. What was life like back then?

All photos courtesy of National Geographic Found.