Product Description
"Archaeoacoustics" focuses on the role of sound in human behaviour, from earliest times up to the development of mechanical detection and recording devices in the 19th century. Recent calls for an 'archaeology of the senses' have served as a timely, even overdue reminder that the past which we experience - and which others have experienced before us - is multisensory, drawing not only upon the primary field of vision, but also on touch, smell and hearing. Megalithic tombs, Palaeolithic painted caves, Romanesque churches and prehistoric rock shelters all present specific sound qualities which offer clues as to how they may have been designed and used. Voices resonate, external noises are subdued or eliminated, and a special aural dimension is accessed which complements the evidence of our other senses. The present volume, arising from a conference held at the McDonald Institute in 2003, brings together archaeologists and specialists in early musical instruments and acoustics in an attempt to unlock some of the meaning latent in the acoustics of such early structures and spaces. It will be essential reading for all who are concerned to seek a broader understanding of human sensory experience from prehistory up to historical times.
About the Author
Chris Scarre is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham and a specialist in the later prehistory of western Europe. His research interests include the relationship of prehistoric monuments to their landscape setting and the use of colour and sound in prehistoric societies. Recent publications include Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe (ed) (2002) and The Human Past (ed) (2005). Dr Graeme Lawson has played a leading role in the developing archaeology of acoustical behaviours, focussing especially on the nature and origins of music tradition and on experiment as a means of evaluating ancient acoustic structures.