PortadaGruposCharlasMásPanorama actual
Buscar en el sitio
Este sitio utiliza cookies para ofrecer nuestros servicios, mejorar el rendimiento, análisis y (si no estás registrado) publicidad. Al usar LibraryThing reconoces que has leído y comprendido nuestros términos de servicio y política de privacidad. El uso del sitio y de los servicios está sujeto a estas políticas y términos.

Resultados de Google Books

Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.

Cargando...

Stone Age Soundtracks: The Acoustic Archaeology of Ancient Sites

por Paul Devereux

MiembrosReseñasPopularidadValoración promediaMenciones
452558,523 (4.28)1
When we walk through ancient monuments, the silence strikes us: we simply cannot imagine what those who lived millennia before would have heard. But, to our Stone Age ancestors, dwelling in a quieter time, sound mattered much more than it does today. They had an acute awareness of rhythm and resonance, sang and played musical instruments, and ascribed magical qualities to many sounds. Exciting research--known as acoustic archaeology--has reconstructed this vanished aspect of long ago, allowing us to "hear" it again. Computer modeling and sophisticated equipment have calculated frequencies and timbres, demonstrating that stone-built chambers, sanctuaries, and even caves were deliberately constructed to enhance ritual sounds. This new knowledge both exposes the origins of music and reveals a lost world where echoes were seen as the voices of the spirits. Travel from chambered mounds in Ireland to French and Spanish Paleolithic caves to Mayan temples in Central America, and listen to the past once more.… (más)
Ninguno
Cargando...

Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará.

Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.

» Ver también 1 mención

Mostrando 2 de 2
Devereux explores, with scientific instruments, the acoustic properties of Stone Age structures from Stonehenge to Palaeolithic caves, reports on the psychological effects of the acoustics, and speculates about their use in prehistoric ritual.

This book is revolutionary in its view of archaeology; it could easily be mistaken for a "crank" book (the cover is a bit silly and melodramatic) but it is a serious, only mildly controversial book by a proper archaeologist. The author's starting point is so obvious that it says a lot about the prejudices of archaeology that we have taken so long to see it. Our ancestors weren't deaf; we know they made music, they also spoke, sang and chanted. Modern people in traditional cultures all have "non-scientific" attitudes to phenomona like echoes, resonance and reverberation. Modern shamans use and interpret them. Lacking a modern understanding of the science of acoustics, our ancestors would also regard places with impressive and unusual acoustics - especially echoes - as spiritually or supernaturally significant.

Any rocky surface reflects sound. If you've watched BBC's "Coast" you'll have seen a concrete wall in Kent, constructed in the 1930s to magnify the sound of approaching planes, concentrating the sound on one focal point. A rock shelter of the type common all over the world will have similar properties; some better than others. Also high up the list of places with spooky, impressive acoustics are caves, in which the effects are still powerful enough to unnerve modern archaeologists.

Devereux links these phenomena with cave and rock paintings. He looks at the acoustics of artificial structures such as Newgrange, Stonehenge, Waylands Smithy and Maes Howe. He compares these with acoustic phenomena in pre-Columbian American sites, and with the planned acoustics of Greek theatres. He speculates, sensibly rather than in a sensationalist way, about the extent to which these structures were designed to manipulate sound, and about how the early shamans used the acoustics for divination, during trance states, and to impress the uninititated part of the tribe. At every opportunity he draws parallels between his ideas about the past and established knowledge about modern shamanistic practice.

All the places Devereux examines resonate in the pitch of a deep male voice (about 110Hz). Baritone chanting results in a number of extraordinary phenomena, including transmission of sound for long distances through the earth, resonances that magnify the volume and prolong the sound after the human voice has stopped, acoustic patterns which result in localised peaks and troughs of sound, and the generation of "infrasound" at the wavelengths where disturbing and unexpected effects on the human body are felt. Higher-pitched voices (or indeed high-pitched musical instruments), for scientific reasons, cannot produce the same effects. Devereux refers in passing to the fact that this means the shamanistic use of acoustics is restricted to men, but sadly he does not develop this provocative and intriguing line of inquiry.

It took me a while to track this book down and I approached it with relish. The author, while a serious archaeologist whose idea are founded in years of scientific research, is keen to make his book as accessible as possible. He writes without jargon, and notes are at the back, numbered in the text rather than appearing as footnotes. There are photographs and a few sketches, the occasional reproduction of an earlier drawing. It should have been a five star book, but is let down by avoidable flaws.

There are many places where the descriptions of acoustic effects in the text would have been much easier to understand if they had been accompanied by simple diagrams. There are long descriptions of the interiors of cave sytems which cried out for a ground plan. Very few of the many cave paintings referred to are illustrated. What illustrations there are often would benefit from more explanation. There are confusing descriptions of shamnistic harmonies and tunes which would have been lucid with a short passage of musical notation. Moreover, Devereux's writing, though carefully avoiding technical language, lacks ordinary clarity; one has to re-read sections to get what he is driving at, not because the ideas are difficult but because his meaning is obscured by clumsy English.

In addition to these drawbacks, several parts of the text are skated through far too briskly. Where he is citing other people's studies, he gives insufficient detail; just a curt summing up rather than the fuller description this fascinating research deserves. When first published this was a mid-priced book. It would have been worth a few quid more to have a longer, better-written text and more graphics. As it was I was left feeling like someone who has bought a ticket to an exciting event and found themselves seated behind a pillar; able to get most of what is going on, but having to struggle too hard and use my imagination rather too much for proper enjoyment. I will read the book again immediately in the hope of picking up more depth of understanding.

POSTSCRIPT: I have now re-read it, and some of the bits which were hard to fathom the first time round are clearer, but my criticisms remain sadly valid. ( )
  AgedPeasant | Nov 22, 2020 |
Short, fascinating notebook about a potentially rewarding area of archaeological research that has been completely neglected. What did ancient monuments sound like? What is the role of sound in ancient ritual? ( )
  kropotkin | Aug 15, 2006 |
Mostrando 2 de 2
sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Debes iniciar sesión para editar los datos de Conocimiento Común.
Para más ayuda, consulta la página de ayuda de Conocimiento Común.
Título canónico
Título original
Títulos alternativos
Fecha de publicación original
Personas/Personajes
Lugares importantes
Acontecimientos importantes
Películas relacionadas
Epígrafe
Dedicatoria
Primeras palabras
Citas
Últimas palabras
Aviso de desambiguación
Editores de la editorial
Blurbistas
Idioma original
DDC/MDS Canónico
LCC canónico

Referencias a esta obra en fuentes externas.

Wikipedia en inglés

Ninguno

When we walk through ancient monuments, the silence strikes us: we simply cannot imagine what those who lived millennia before would have heard. But, to our Stone Age ancestors, dwelling in a quieter time, sound mattered much more than it does today. They had an acute awareness of rhythm and resonance, sang and played musical instruments, and ascribed magical qualities to many sounds. Exciting research--known as acoustic archaeology--has reconstructed this vanished aspect of long ago, allowing us to "hear" it again. Computer modeling and sophisticated equipment have calculated frequencies and timbres, demonstrating that stone-built chambers, sanctuaries, and even caves were deliberately constructed to enhance ritual sounds. This new knowledge both exposes the origins of music and reveals a lost world where echoes were seen as the voices of the spirits. Travel from chambered mounds in Ireland to French and Spanish Paleolithic caves to Mayan temples in Central America, and listen to the past once more.

No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca.

Descripción del libro
Resumen Haiku

Debates activos

Ninguno

Cubiertas populares

Enlaces rápidos

Valoración

Promedio: (4.28)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5 1
4 5
4.5
5 3

¿Eres tú?

Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing.

 

Acerca de | Contactar | LibraryThing.com | Privacidad/Condiciones | Ayuda/Preguntas frecuentes | Blog | Tienda | APIs | TinyCat | Bibliotecas heredadas | Primeros reseñadores | Conocimiento común | 203,188,469 libros! | Barra superior: Siempre visible