music (archaeology)

Music archaeology is an interdisciplinary field of study that combines musicology and archaeology. As it includes the study of music from various cultures, it is often considered to be a subfield of ethnomusicology.

Definitions

According to music archaeologist Adje Both, "In its broadest sense, music archaeology is the study of the phenomenon of past musical behaviours and sounds."
Music archaeologists often combine methods from musicology and archaeology. A theoretical and methodological basic work is still missing and one of the main areas of interest for the international community of researchers.

Research goals in the field include the study of artifacts relevant to the reconstruction of ancient music, such as sound-producing devices, representations of musical scenes, and textual evidence. The archaeological analysis and documentation of such artifacts including their dating and description and analysis of their origin and cultural context can improve understanding of the usage of an instrument and can sometimes allow reconstruction of functional replicas. To produce music in a broader sense may also mean the investigation of early musical notations and literary sources.

The field has also expanded to include neurophysiological, biological, and psychological research examining the prerequisites for music production in humans.

History

One of the first attempts to join the two distinct disciplines of musicology and archaeology took place at the conference of the International Musicological Society at Berkeley in 1977. One of the round tables was designated "Music and Archaeology", to which were invited specialists to discuss the musical remains of ancient cultures: Bathia Bayer (Israel), Charles Boilès (Mexico), Ellen Hickmann (Egypt), David Liang (China), Cajsa S. Lund (Sweden). The main stimulus for this was the sensational discovery of an ancient Mesopotamian musical system by Anne D. Kilmer, an Assyriologist in Berkeley. On the basis of this discovery, she was able to advance a decipherment and transcription into Western notation of a late Bronze Age hymn in the Hurrian language, excavated from Ugarit, which contained notation based on the Mesopotamian system. With the help of musicologist Richard L. Crocker (Berkeley) and instrument maker Robert Brown, a replica of a Sumerian lyre was made, and Kilmer's version of the Hurrian hymn was recorded, accompanied by a carefully prepared commentary, as Kilmer/Crocker/Brown, Sounds from Silence, Recent Discoveries in Ancient Eastern Music (LP with information booklet, Bit Enki Publications, Berkeley, 1976). At the round table in Berkeley, Kilmer explained their method of reconstruction and demonstrated the resulting sound. This was the starting point of th
ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology
officially founded within the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) in Seoul/Korea in 1981, and recognized by the ICTM in New York in 1983 following its first meeting on current music-archaeological research in Cambridge/UK in 1982.

The ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology went on to hold international conferences in Stockholm (1984), Hannover/Wolfenbüttel (1986), Saint Germain-en-Laye (1990), Liège (1992), Istanbul (1993), Jerusalem (1994/1995, together with the ICTM-Study Group for Iconography), and Limassol, Cyprus (1996). These meetings resulted in comprehensive conference reports.

The International Study Group on Music Archaeology
ISGMA
has been founded by Ellen Hickmann and Ricardo Eichmann in 1998. The Study Group emerged from the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology with the objective to obtain closer cooperation with archaeologists. Since then, the ISGMA has worked continuously with the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin (DAI, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin). A new series called "Studien zur Musikarchäologie" was created as a sub-series of "Orient-Archäologie" to present the conference reports of the ISGMA, and to integrate music-archaeological monographs independent of the Study Group's meetings; it is published by the Orient Department of the DAI through the Verlag Marie Leidorf. Between 1998 and 2004, conferences of ISGMA were held every two years at Michaelstein Monastery, Music Academy of Sachsen-Anhalt (Kloster Michaelstein, Landesmusikakademie Sachsen-Anhalt), sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).

In close cooperation with the Department for Ethnomusicology at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin (Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, SMB SPK, Abteilung Musikethnologie, Medien-Technik und Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv), the 5th and 6th Symposium of the ISGMA were held in 2006 respectively in 2008 at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. In friendly cooperation with the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, the 7th Symposium of the ISGMA was held in Tianjin, China, in 2010. The 8th Symposium of the ISGMA (2012) was also held in China, in Suzhou and Beijing, and the 9th Symposium is being planned for September 2014, again held at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.

Meanwhile, the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology continued separately, and holds its own events, although a number of researchers are involved in both groups. After a couple of years of inactivity, Julia L. J. Sanchez re-established the Study Group in 2003 on the initiative of Anthony Seeger, beginning with meetings in Los Angeles, California (2003), and Wilmington, North Carolina (2006). These were followed by a joint-conference in New York (2009), the 11th of the Study Group since its foundation in 1981 (also the 12th Conference of the Research Center for Music Iconography). The 12th conference was then held in Valladolid, Spain (2011), which was the largest meeting of the ICTM Study Group so far, followed by the 13th Symposium of the Study Group held in Guatemala 2013. In 2015, the 14th symposium will be held in Poland. In 2013 it was decided to establish a new series
Publications of the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology
published throug
Ekho Verlag

On 27 May 2011, a public concert under the banner of ''Palaeophonics'', funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) ''Beyond Text'' programme and the University of Edinburgh Campaign, took place at the George Square Theatre in Edinburgh. The event showcased the outcomes of collaborative research and creative practice by archaeologists, composers, filmmakers and performers from across Europe and the Americas. Whilst inspired and driven by research in music archaeology, ''Palaeophonics'' represents the emergence of a new, possibly significant, development within the field and within musicology which approaches the subject through the production and performance of new sound and music based multi-media creative works instead of through direct representation and reproduction. Said by some observers as 'experimental' and 'avant-garde', the event provoked mixed feedback from a wide public audience of around 250 people. A related publication is planned and further ''Palaeophonics'' events are thought to be taking place in the future, although none are currently programmed, whilst funding for developing the project is sourced.

In 2013, th
European Music Archaeology Project
(EMAP) has been funded by the EU funding programm
EACEA
for the period of five years. The project will develop a touring exhibition on ancient music in Europe and an elaborate concert and event program.

Approaches

Music archaeology is an interdisciplinary field with multifaceted approaches, falling under the cross section of experimental archaeology and musicology research. Music archaeology research aims to understand past musical behaviors; this may be done through methods such as recreating past musical performances, or reconstructing musical instruments from the past.

A common research approach for an interdisciplinary field is to develop a collaborative research team with diverse specialists who can offer varying perspectives on data and findings. Music archaeology research teams are frequently composed of musicologists and archaeologists. In addition, specialists such as psychologists, organologists, biologists, chemists, and historians can be key in understanding past musical behaviors. For example, a human physiologist can help provide useful insight on singing and tonal capabilities when analysing excavated human remains. In pursuit of achieving accurate results, it is important that all sources of information and data, regardless of how they are reported or recorded, are treated equally. The information obtained from various scientific approaches can deepen the interpretation of past musical behaviors, sound artefacts, and acoustic spaces. Archaeological researchers date and classify findings from digs to better understand past behaviors; both dating and classifying are equally important when interpreting data.

Notable music archaeologists

Graeme Lawson
*Ellen Hickmann
Cajsa Lund
* Bo Lawergren
Anne D. Kilmer
* Arnd Adje Bothbr>
* Stefan Hage

* Peter Holme

* John C. Frankli

Networks

Th
ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology
has been founded in the early 1980s. In 2013, the book serie
Publications of the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology
has been launched.

Th
International Study Group on Music Archaeology
(ISGMA) has been founded in 1998. The study group is hosted at the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute Berlin (DAI, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Orient-Abteilung) and the Department for Ethnomusicology at the Ethnological Museum Berlin (Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, SMB SPK, Abteilung Musikethnologie, Medien-Technik und Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv).
MOISA
The International Society for the Study of Greek and Roman Music and its Cultural Heritage is a non-profit association incorporated in Italy in 2007 for the preservation, interpretation, and valorization of ancient Greek and Roman music and musical theory, as well as its cultural heritage to the present day.

Th
Acoustics and Music of British Prehistory Research Network
was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, led b
Rupert Till
an
Chris Scarre
as well as Professo
Jian Kang
of Sheffield University's Department of Architecture. It has a list of researchers working in the field, and links to many other relevant sites.

Gallery

File:MusicalBow.gif, Man playing traditional Music bow. one of the oldest stringed instruments.
File:Bone Flute.jpg, Bone Flutes are some of the oldest remaining musical instruments.

See also

* History of music
*Organology

References

{{Prehistoric technology

Archaeological sub-disciplines
Music history