Ancient mosaics look like they were laid yesterday. Colour portraits from 200 BC.

From the Greek city of Zeugma in modern Turkey comes this memorable photograph. 

(h/t extragoodshit.phlap.net)

Note also how deep into the ground this tile floor was buried. 2200 years ago is almost modern history. In many regions the earth's surface today is almost unrecognizable compared to 20,000 years ago when modern man was learning to talk and spearing mastodons.