Stone Age Soundtracks: The acoustic archaeology of ancient sites by Paul
Devereux, Chrysalis, 拢12.99, ISBN 184333447X
FRENCH archaeologists, deep in caves frequented by ice age artists, like to
explore the natural resonance of the dark chambers. Singing 鈥渕m鈥� or 鈥渉mm鈥濃�� works
best, with 鈥渟trong harmonics, overtones and whistles鈥�, and a tuning fork. Thus
the researchers were able 鈥渢o locate the tonic鈥�. Here鈥檚 hoping, after all that
effort, they found the gin too.
Meanwhile, stone circles reverberate to the sounds of an archaeologist and a
cybernetics professor, drumming at four beats a second. Paul Devereux and an
aerospace engineer use an omnidirectional loudspeaker in Neolithic tombs. This
is entertaining theatre, sort of Simon McBurney without the plot. But is it
science?
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In Stone Age Soundtracks Devereux makes his goal clear: he wants to
nail the ethereal, the sounds of the remote past. It鈥檚 an important quest, both
for understanding our ancestors and adding depth to our musical traditions.
What you get from these experiments, however, is debatable. Devereux鈥檚 burial
chambers resonate at the frequencies of the male voice. This means, he says,
that 鈥渕ale chanting occurred in ritual contexts鈥� (or possibly 鈥渄eep-chanting
women鈥�). Does it? By this logic, bottles were designed to hum when you blow
across the neck鈥攁n analogy he uses in trying, not very successfully for
this reader, to explain some acoustic principles.
More contentious is his insistence that 鈥渟ound mattered much more than it
does today鈥� in both the world of our Stone Age ancestors and 鈥渕ore traditional,
non-Western societies鈥�. Really? And what is it that allows him to lump together
every world culture of all time as if they were one? A useful review, but not
much to say yet. Perhaps Devereux will inspire musicologists to join the
hunt.