Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon

 

Livia Gershon is a daily correspondent for Smithsonian. She is also a freelance journalist based in New Hampshire. She has written for JSTOR Daily, the Daily Beast, the Boston Globe, HuffPost and Vice, among others.

The kangaroo painting, shown alongside an illustration giving a clear view of the lines drawn by the artist, is Australia's oldest known rock art.

17,000-Year-Old Kangaroo Painting Is Oldest-Known Australian Rock Art

Researchers were able to date the painting using a new technique involving wasps' nests

The design is similar to marble sarcophagi found in what is now Marmara, Turkey.

Construction at Israeli Safari Park Unearths 1,800-Year-Old Sarcophagi

First found 25 years ago, the limestone coffins—adorned with Greco-Roman symbols—were subsequently forgotten

Researchers are unsure whether the figurine is of Roman or Celtic origin.

Did Early Britons Sport Mullets and Mustaches?

A first-century figurine found in England may reveal the ancient roots of a much-maligned hairstyle

Bogong moths were traditionally ground into pastes or cakes. Pictured here are a single moth (left) and thousands of moths resting on a rock (right).

Aboriginal Australians Dined on Moths 2,000 Years Ago

The discovery of an ancient grindstone containing traces of the insect confirms long-held Indigenous oral tradition

The bronze Cupid figurine carries a flaming torch.

2,000-Year-Old Figurine of Roman Love God Cupid Found in England

Archaeologists say the petite statue, discovered ahead of construction of highway, may have been a religious offering

The brewery “may have been built specifically to supply the royal rituals that were taking place inside the funeral facilities of the kings of Egypt,” says lead archaeologist Matthew Adams.

World's Oldest 'Industrial-Scale' Brewery Found in Egypt

Located in an ancient necropolis, the 5,000-year-old facility was capable of producing up to 5,900 gallons of beer at a time

Researchers recorded striking similarities between Stonehenge and a razed stone circle at the Waun Mawn archaeological site in Wales.

How a Stone Circle in Wales Paved the Way for Stonehenge

New research suggests early Britons used megaliths from a dismantled Welsh monument to construct the iconic ring of standing stones

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on Native American communities. In this May 2020 image, Navajo elder Emerson Gorman (R) sits with his (L-R) daughter Naiyahnikai, wife Beverly and grandchild Nizhoni near the Navajo Nation town of Steamboat in Arizona.

$1.6 Million Grant Will Support Digitization of Native American Oral Histories

The newly announced funding will help universities make decades-old interviews widely available

A number of terracotta heads were found separated from the rest of their bodies.

2,000-Year-Old Terracotta Figurines of Deities, Mortals, Animals Found in Turkey

Some of the petite sculptures still bear traces of the pigments used to decorate them

Featured in the museum's first temporary exhibition, the Fisk Jubilee Singers introduced spirituals to audiences around the world.

A New Museum in Nashville Chronicles 400 Years of Black Music

The culmination of two decades of planning, the National Museum of African American Music opened its doors last month

Domínguez, who was executed by General Francisco Franco's fascist forces in 1936, was a teacher, writer and political thinker.

Is This the Body of a Woman Mayor Murdered During the Spanish Civil War?

Born into poverty, María Domínguez Remón overcame abuse to fight for women's and workers' rights

Parents probably created the tags in hopes of finding their children again.

Newly Unearthed I.D. Tags Tell the Stories of Four Young Holocaust Victims

The Nazis murdered the children, who ranged in age from 5 to 11, upon their arrival at the Sobibor death camp in Poland

The mud shell was added after the woman's original mummification, perhaps to repair damage inflicted by grave robbers.

Why Was This Egyptian Mummy Encased in Mud?

Researchers have never previously observed the unusual, low-cost embalming method

Moskin answered about 1,000 questions over five days.

This Exhibition Lets Visitors 'Chat' With a WWII Veteran Who Liberated Nazi Camp

Interactive installation at the National WWII Museum encourages people to ask Staff Sgt. Alan Moskin about his wartime experiences

Archaeologists discovered the graveyard beneath 1930s housing at Cambridge University.

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Found Beneath Demolished University Housing

The find may shed light on life in Britain after the withdrawal of Roman forces in the fifth century A.D.

The color purple has long been associated with royalty. This wool fabric found in Israel dates to around 1,000 B.C.

'Royal Purple' Fabric Dated to Time of Biblical King David Found in Israel

Derived from the bodies of snails, the dye used on the wool fibers was extremely valuable in the ancient world

A total of 380 testimonies are currently available online. The remaining 1,185 will be added later this year.

Hundreds of Holocaust Testimonies Translated, Digitized for the First Time

The Wiener Holocaust Library plans to upload its entire collection of survivor accounts by the end of the year

“The scale of preservation at this site is really exceptional and is adding considerably to our knowledge of English gardens around 1600,” says historian Paul Stamper.

Stunningly Well-Preserved Elizabethan Garden Discovered in England

The Tudor manor's grounds were organized in a geometric pattern of gravel paths, planting beds and pavilions

Disney will remove a scene featuring a "shrunken head salesman" and add a new one centered on chimpanzees riding an abandoned boat.

Disney Will Remove Jungle Cruise Ride's Colonialist Depictions of Indigenous Africans

The entertainment conglomerate announced plans to revamp the attraction, which has drawn increased scrutiny in recent months

Trove of amulets unearthed in Pompeii

Pompeii's Museum Reopens With Dazzling Display of Archaeological Treasures

Artifacts on view at the Antiquarium include ancient frescoes, protective amulets and casts of Mount Vesuvius victims' bodies

Page 12 of 17