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.

Aside from photography, James Van Der Zee was also a gifted musician who played both the piano and violin.

The Met Acquires Archive of Work by Harlem Renaissance Photographer James Van Der Zee

Working with the Studio Museum of Harlem, the museum is preserving the photographer’s images of 20th-century Black life

Archaeological evidence of crucifixion is rare, as victims were rarely properly buried. Most crucifixions used rope rather than nails to bind the condemned to a cross.

Rare Physical Evidence of Roman Crucifixion Found in Britain

Researchers discovered the skeleton of a man with a nail hammered through his heel bone

The sealed tomb held about 400 funerary figurines.

Mummies With Gold Tongues Found Inside 2,500-Year-Old Tombs in Egypt

The rare discovery of a sealed tomb yielded well-preserved grave goods including 400 funerary figures

Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye will lead design of the new Heritage District, a center dedicated to teaching about the history and impact of the transatlantic slave trade.

After Breaking Ties With Britain, Barbados Announces Heritage District Tracing Slavery's Toll

The four-phase project will include a museum, global research center and memorial

Excavators discovered the underground ritual site beneath Garibaldi Plaza, formerly part of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.

Aztec Altar Secretly Built After the Spanish Conquest Discovered in Mexico City

Researchers found incense burners, a vessel containing cremated remains and other artifacts in the former capital of Tenochtitlán

Climate change led Ancestral Puebloans to relocate, forming denser communities and building grand structures like the great kivas in Chaco Canyon.

How Volcanic Eruptions Helped the Ancestral Puebloan Culture Flourish

Drastic changes in climate in the sixth century C.E. led the ancient Native American civilization to adopt new technologies

New memorials provide a bare outline of the lives of two Black victims killed during the Holocaust.

New Memorials in Berlin Honor the Holocaust's Overlooked Black Victims

Two brass "stumbling stones" are among the first to memorialize the Afro-German people murdered by the Nazis

Neolithic people may have cooked predecessors of modern mince pies on stones heated in a fire's embers.

Stonehenge's Builders May Have Feasted on Sweet Treats

Excavations near the iconic English monument revealed traces of fruits and nuts

The simple coin design was quickly replaced, leaving only 40 or so surviving specimens today.

Found in a Candy Tin: One of the First Coins Struck in Colonial North America

Illegally minted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the 1652 silver shilling recently sold at auction for $351,912

The mosaic was scorched by fire, but its depiction of the Iliad remains clearly visible.

Huge Roman Mosaic Depicting Scenes From the 'Iliad' Found Beneath U.K. Field

The artwork features scenes from the Iliad showing Achilles’s defeat of Hector

The letter will be sold alongside a portrait of the Russian empress on December 1.

Catherine the Great Letter Extolling the Virtues of Vaccination Is Up for Auction

The Russian empress, who was inoculated against smallpox in 1768, was an early proponent of the practice

Critics of the statue have emphasized not only to the deferential position of the two other figures but also Roosevelt’s racist beliefs and actions.

Controversial Teddy Roosevelt Statue Will Be Moved From NYC to North Dakota

The equestrian monument will leave the steps of the American Museum of Natural History, finding a new home at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

Kabance joined the Women's Army Corps in 1943.

Julia Kabance, Oldest Known Woman Veteran of World War II, Dies at 111

She was also the oldest living member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation

The rare document is one of only two surviving first printings of the Constitution held by private collectors.

Rare First Printing of the U.S. Constitution Is the Most Expensive Text Ever Sold at Auction

A collective of cryptocurrency owners attempted to buy the document but was outbid by Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, who shelled out $43.2 million

The coins span the reigns of Nero (54 to 68 C.E.) to Septimius Severus (193 to 211 C.E.).

Hoard of 5,500 Roman-Era Silver Coins Unearthed in Germany

The coins were buried in what is now the city of Augsburg around the third century C.E.

The team found traces of an earlier temple beneath the famed sun temple of Nyuserra (pictured).

Archaeologists Discover 'Lost,' 4,500-Year-Old Egyptian Sun Temple

Fifth-Dynasty pharaohs built six such structures. Until now, only two had been found

The heads belong to statues previously discovered in the ancient city.

Roman-Era Shops, Statues of Greek Deities Found in Ancient City in Turkey

Researchers in Aizanoi unearthed traces of a bone workshop and an oil lamp store, as well as the heads of sculptures depicting Aphrodite and Dionysus

The room combines art that evokes imagined futures and artifacts from different contexts within the African diaspora.

The Met's New Period Room Envisions a Thriving Afrofuturist Community

The Manhattan museum's latest imagined space blends Black history and contemporary art

Most of the people buried at the site were woman and children.

Mass Grave of Women, Children Found in Pre-Hispanic City in Peru

Buried in the Chimú Empire capital of Chan Chan, some of the deceased were interred with needles and sewing tools

The museum acquired the collection in recognition of its historical significance—and to keep the objects from circulating elsewhere.

German Museum Acquires 15,000 Artifacts Documenting the History of Anti-Semitism

Holocaust survivor Wolfgang Haney collected the items over three decades

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