Articles tagged as Artifacts | Smithsonian Magazine

Greek Orthodox priests taking part in a procession inside the Katholikon, or Catholicon Chapel, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

A Crusader-Era High Altar Resurfaces in Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher

This reminder of centuries-old history was sitting in plain sight all along

February 16, 2018

We’re One Step Closer to Non-Invasively Reading Ancient Papyri Hidden in Mummy Masks

Researchers at the University College of London are working to find a way to read the ancient scraps without destroying the artifacts in the process

January 25, 2018

The Weimaraner will inspect incoming artwork for beetles, moths and other critters that can damage museum collections

January 11, 2018

The skull and two hands were illegally acquired by a tourist in 1927 and were confiscated from an antiquities dealer

January 9, 2018

The Top Ten Most Important Ancient Documents Lost to History

Either due to conquest or simply the ravages of time, these founding papers of civilizations around the world will remain mysteries forever

January 2018

Artist’s representation of “neglected story on Smithsonian.com.”

The Ten Stories You Didn’t Read in 2017 But Should Have

From music behind prison bars to a San Francisco building with a dark past, here are the top 10 pieces we published last year that deserve another look

December 19, 2017

Bradford saw the dollhouse, shown decorated for Christmas, as ever evolving: "I shall never be completely satisfied with its creation."

Christmas at the Smithsonian’s Dolls’ House Includes All the Trimmings—in Miniature

It’s ‘Deck the Halls’ with Christmas cheer at the beloved Victorian-style dollhouse at the National Museum of American History

Updated: December 14, 2017
Originally Published: December 2010

Statue of Memnon in the westbank in Luxor, with the community of Qurna in the background.

The Greatest Clash in Egyptian Archaeology May Be Fading, But Anger Lives On

After 200 years, the sad story of Qurna, a so-called ‘village of looters’, is coming to a close

December 11, 2017

Bentley found "each snowflake is as different from its fellows as human beings are from each other."

The Man Who Revealed the Hidden Structure of Falling Snowflakes

Beginning in the 1880s, amateur photographer Wilson A. Bentley considered the endlessly varied crystals “miracles of beauty”

Updated: December 6, 2017
Originally Published: January 2005

A Look Inside China’s Effort to Preserve Historical Mongolian Manuscripts

Various projects are attempting to digitize the more than 200,000 volumes of Mongolian books and documents in the country

November 28, 2017

The museum has more than 600 Bibles in different languages and dialects in its collection.

Can the Museum of the Bible Deliver on Its Promise?

The highly anticipated museum hopes to offer something for visitors of all faiths, but on a topic as fraught as religion, that may not be possible

November 16, 2017

"A witch summoning devils" from "The Kingdom of Darkness" by Nathaniel Crouch, 1688.

200 Artifacts of Witchcraft Cast a Spell in Cornell’s “The World Bewitch’d”

The exhibit, full of manuscripts, photographs and posters, highlights the history of witchcraft in Europe

November 6, 2017

Social media and ISIS have combined to flood the web with thousands of questionable artifacts

November 3, 2017

A common thread to this huge collection of materials—time-worn press credentials, painted tennis shoes, photographs, mic flags, scripts—is that they represent decades in the making of the Spanish-language broadcasting network Telemundo.

How Spanish-Language Broadcasters Gave Voice to America’s Hispanics

In a country where more than 37 million people speak Spanish, stations like Telemundo reach under-served communities

October 30, 2017

The cuneiform clay tablets discovered inside a ceramic pot.

Archaeologists Discover Trove of Cuneiform Tablets in Northern Iraq

Many of the 93 artifacts were unbaked and badly worn, making reading and translating the tablets a lengthy task

October 24, 2017

Songbook From the 16th-Century Spells Out Samurai Customs, Tactics and Baby Names

The newly translated Japanese text offers kernels of advice to warriors who had yet to face battle

October 23, 2017

The Ainu, the Indigenous people of Japan, have fought Japanese domination for centuries. As this century unfolds, their efforts are finally paying off.

How Japan’s Bear-Worshipping Indigenous Group Fought Its Way to Cultural Relevance

For a long time, Japanese anthropologists and officials tried to bury the Ainu. It didn’t work

October 18, 2017

Tripartite Mahzor, Lake Constance Area, ca. 1322 (Oxford, Bodleian Library) - The Tripartite Mahzor is a magnificent illuminated manuscript divided into three volumes, housed today in Budapest, London and Oxford. It is adorned by paintings in colors and gold, produced in a non-Jewish workshop. Here the initial word: כל ("All") opening the Eve of Yom Kippur prayers is written within a colorful panel adorned with hybrid creatures typical to this workshop. This image is taken from the Ursula and Kurt Schubert Archive held in the Center for Jewish Art.

World’s Largest Online Database of Jewish Art Preserves At-Risk Heritage Objects

Take a tour through the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, which contains more than 260,000 entries from 41 countries

October 4, 2017

Ancient Statue Damaged by ISIS Resurrected in Damascus

Palmyra’s Lion of Al-lāt, as the statue is known, once adorned the temple of a pre-Islamic goddess

October 3, 2017

Having shown that it’s possible to identify whale species from baleen, Solazzo says, “Now we have a new tool to study those collections.”

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These Ancient Whale Baleen Artifacts Can Now Tell New Stories

How an innovative protein analysis technique helped solve a decades-old mystery

September 29, 2017