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Sonja Anderson

Daily Correspondent

Sonja Anderson

Sonja Anderson is a daily correspondent for Smithsonian magazine who covers art, archaeology and culture, from newly discovered artifacts to the latest art heists.

Highlights

  • Contributes daily news coverage for the online version of Smithsonian magazine and digs into offbeat historical tidbits for Smithsonian’s print edition
  • Reporting and op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the New Republic, the New York Daily News and other publications

Education

Bachelor’s degree in English from Loyola University Chicago

Master’s degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY

Stories from Sonja Anderson

An 1857 storage jar signed by David Drake

The Milwaukee Art Museum Just Returned Two Ceramics Made by Enslaved Potter David Drake to His Descendants

The two vessels, one of them a signed 1855 jar, are the latest to be reinstituted to Drake’s family, who are on a mission to acquire the works of their ancestor

A bronze helmet with hammered decoration from Heraklion, Crete

See a Stunning Collection of Stolen Greek Artifacts, Spanning 5,000 Years, That Were Just Returned to Greece

The antiquities were seized at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by investigators from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.

The fragment of a cuneiform tablet was found at the site of Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital.

Researchers in Turkey Have Unearthed an Ancient Fragment Inscribed With the World’s Oldest Peace Treaty

The piece of a clay tablet is marked with Akkadian cuneiform, and its text belongs to the Kadesh Peace Treaty, created by ancient Egyptians and Hittites in the 13th century B.C.E.

Iris, Claude Monet, oil on canvas, 1924-25

Claude Monet’s Long-Hidden ‘Iris’ Is About to Become the Most Expensive Painting Ever Auctioned in France

The artwork reflects the famed Impressionist’s later, abstract style. Sotheby’s estimates that it will sell for $25 million to $34 million

The scythe is a less invasive tool for cutting grass than a lawnmower.

A Cutting-Edge English Initiative Replaces Lawnmowers With Scythes to Restore Wildflowers and Save the Bees

English Heritage has recruited volunteers to mow meadows the old-fashioned way at some of its historic sites

The front of the parchment fragment

A Researcher Studying in a Dutch Library Was Amazed to Discover a Scrap of Parchment From a 1,700-Year-Old Copy of ‘The Odyssey’

The handwritten fragment contains Greek verses from Book 12 of Homer’s epic, in which King Odysseus recounts the fate of his doomed crew

The 2,500-year-old temple, photographed in 2009

Centuries Ago, an Architect Characterized the Parthenon’s Curves as a Clever Optical Illusion. Now, a Mathematician Begs to Differ

In the first century B.C.E., Vitruvius wrote that the Acropolis’ largest temple was horizontally bowed so that it didn’t seem to sag, and that explanation persisted for millennia. New research suggests a different reason

Via Appia is considered the oldest great Roman road.

Researchers Have Analyzed the Roman Empire’s 190,000-Mile Network of Roads. Turns Out, Not All of Them Led to Rome

For a new study, archaeologists attempted to answer age-old questions about Rome’s roads, including how connected the capital was and whether current motorways trace Roman routes

Tasmanian devils used to live across mainland Australia, but wild populations now inhabit only the island state of Tasmania.

Tasmanian Devils Lived Alongside Humans in Northwestern Australia as Far Back as 45,000 Years Ago, Researchers Find

Fossils and marked bones unearthed in a Juukan Gorge cave suggest that the marsupial species not only once lived in the region but may have been a “garbage compactor on four legs” for its human population

The recovered artifacts range from a newspaper clipping of 1889 theater showtimes to a typed schedule for one of Elizabeth II’s diplomatic receptions.

Renovations at Buckingham Palace Have Revealed Fascinating Artifacts Previously Lost to Time Lodged in Its Walls and Floors

The findings include a card game tournament ticket, an important newspaper clipping and the schedule for a diplomatic evening event under Elizabeth II

The collection of Viking Age coins found by a metal detectorist scouring his hometown

A Finnish Metal Detectorist Was Shocked to Unearth a Trove of Viking Age Silver in His Hometown. Then His Detector Went Off Again

Weighing a combined ten pounds, the artifacts are estimated to be 1,000 years old and constitute Finland’s largest coin hoard of the era

Agatha Christie boards a train in 1922, during a ten-month trip around the world with her first husband.

The Life of Agatha Christie, the World’s Best-Selling Novelist, Goes Under the Microscope at the British Library

An upcoming London exhibition will explore the breadth of Christie’s ‘remarkable’ experiences through letters, photographs, a typewriter and a replica of her Hawaiian surfboard

The 42 teeth discovered at the burial site belonged to large mammals.

Archaeologists Excavating a Roman-Era Cemetery in Poland Were Surprised to Stumble Upon a 5,000-Year-Old Necklace Made of 42 Teeth

Crafted from the teeth of large mammals, such as wolves, deer, bears and perhaps even humans, the jewelry was found in a grave in southern Poland that may belong to an important patriarch of the Corded Ware culture

The Renoir Museum occupies the Impressionist's final home.

Thieves Broke Into a French Museum and Made Off With Renoir Paintings Worth More Than $2.5 Million

Early today, burglars stole four artworks from the Renoir Museum, in the French Riviera, only to drop two of them as they escaped

The treasure was found at a home in Rebild, a municipality in northern Denmark.

Routine Yard Work Reveals a Trove of Viking Silver—the Largest Treasure of Its Kind Ever Discovered in Denmark

The collection includes coins, jewelry, silver bars and a tiny artifact shaped like Thor’s hammer. Experts say the roughly 700 items were buried during the tenth century

Study co-author Lisa Tauxe inserts samples into a thermal demagnetizer.

Researchers Have Figured Out How to Spot Fake Ancient Pottery Using the Earth’s Magnetic Field

The magnetic North Pole has shifted over the millennia, leaving clues in the minerals that make up clay antiquities

The house was commissioned in 1938 and built in 1939.

A Frank Lloyd Wright House in L.A. Is in Danger of ‘Demolition by Neglect,’ Say Advocates

The visionary designed this two-bedroom, one-bathroom in his affordable Usonian style. It’s the only house of its kind in L.A.

The digital facial depiction was created by the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University.

See the Digitally Reconstructed Face of an Ancient Man Who Witnessed England’s Greatest Upheaval

The so-called “Conquest Man” was buried in England in 1079, just over a decade into the reign of William the Conqueror. Researchers recently analyzed the skeleton’s DNA and teeth to learn more about him

Fabric remnants found in a Viking Age grave in Denmark

Archaeologists in Denmark Discover Rare Fragments of 1,300-Year-Old Clothing Preserved Inside a Viking Age Grave

Researchers found the textile traces on a pair of metal brooches. When the accessories corroded, they released metallic salts that inadvertently preserved the fabric for centuries

Researchers documenting and analyzing the inscriptions

Deep Inside a Spanish Cave, Roman Women May Have Worshipped a Mysterious Goddess

Best known for its Paleolithic art, Valencia’s Cova de les Dones also contains a Roman sanctuary where researchers say women appear to have played an active role in the worship of a female deity

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