The Telegraph (a UK Paper) has published a fascinating picture look into the historic loadouts carried into combat from 1066 to now. Photographer Thom Atkinson embarked on a nine-month journey into “Britain’s mythological relationship with war:”

1485 Yorkist man-at-arms, Battle of Bosworth
‘There’s a spoon in every picture,’ Atkinson says. ‘I think that’s wonderful. The requirement of food, and the experience of eating, hasn’t changed in 1,000 years. It’s the same with warmth, water, protection, entertainment.’
Picture: THOM ATKINSON

Atkinson says the project, which took him nine months, was an education. ‘I’ve never been a soldier. It’s difficult to look in on a subject like this and completely understand it. I wanted it to be about people. Watching everything unfold, I begin to feel that we really are the same creatures with the same fundamental needs.’

2014 close-support sapper, Royal Engineers, Helmland Province
The evolution of technology that emerges from the series is a process that has accelerated over the past century. The pocket watch of 1916 is today a waterproof digital wristwatch; the bolt-action Lee-Enfield rifle has been replaced by laser-sighted light assault carbines; and lightweight camouflage Kevlar vests take the place of khaki woollen Pattern service tunics.
Picture: THOM ATKINSON

Click on any one of the pictures to be taken to the Telegraph’s website and the article. As the article muses, there are many parallels between gear from year’s past to today. Notebooks become iBooks and manually winded timepieces have morphed into solar digital watches.

Just plain cool.