| Unit name | Music and Archaeology |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MUSI20084 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Heldt |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Music |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
All societies have had some form musical expression and Music Archaeology is a multi-disciplinary field of research which embraces both archaeological and musicological methods to explore the role of organised sound in the past. This includes the examination of the excavated artefacts and contexts, and imagery or textual evidence which relate to the organisation of sound. The aim is to explain the function of these objects and perhaps build working models which may be played, allowing an insight into previous societies structuring of sound. Recently research has explored psychological and neuro-physiological evidence concerning the use and earliest development of music, and its relationship with language as a means of communication. The use of ethnographic studies and experimental approaches also help develop analogies for explaining the patterning of the archaeological record.
This unit’s aims are:
1 to survey the range of evidence available for the study of music archaeology
2 to set this evidence within the context of current interpretations of the archaeological record
3 to enable students to engage in a multidisciplinary approach to musicology
4 to encourage the development of concepts of music, and organised sound outside the norms of western contemporary society.
At the end of this unit, students should:
1) be familiar with the evidence used for the interpretation of organised sound within the archaeological record;
2) understand that different approaches exist for examining the early role of music in culture, from the study of objects or imagery to experimentation and cognitive psychology;
3) be able to discuss the different evidence and approaches in detail, demonstrating an understanding of time frame, the range of instrument types and sound-producing devices and the way that these relate to our understanding of material culture as a reflection of past communities;
4) understand that past societies used instruments/sound-producing devices which may have been simple by modern standards but which are able to produce rich sonic environments;
5) write critically about the role of sound in the organisation of human societies and how it relates to other cultural structures recognisable in the archaeological record;
6) engage with the idea of bimusicality, exploring the sonic possibilities of models to create experimental soundscapes.
10x2 hour classes for the whole cohort
All the assessment is summative:
1x2,500-word essay (50%); 1x 2-hour exam (50%).
Both the essay and the exam will demonstrate (1)-(6), with the essay in particular providing an opportunity for the students to demonstrate (3) and (5), and the exam in particular providing an opportunity to demonstrate (1), (2) and (4).
1. Baily, J 2001 Learning to perform as a research technique in ethnomusicology, Ethnomusicology Forum 10:2, 85-98.
2. Blacking, J. 1976 Dance, conceptual thought and production in the archaeological record. In: Sieveking, G.G. Longworth, I.H. and Wilson, K.E. (eds) Problems in economic and social archaeology. London: Duckworth, 3-13.
3. Lawson, G. And Scarre, C. (eds) 2006 Archaeoacoustics. Macdonald Institute Monograph.
4. Mithen, S. The Singing Neanderthals The Origins of Music, Language, Mind And Body. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
5. Morley, I. 2003 The Evolutionary Origins and Archaeology of Music. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Available online
6. Nettl, B. 2004 “Some Considerations on the Relationship of Music Archaeology and Ethnomusicology: Informal Comments on Constructing the Past from the Present.” In Hickmann, E. and Eichmann, R. (Eds). Music Archaeological Sources: Papers from the 3rd Symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archaeology at Monastery Michaelstein,9–16 June, 2002. Studien zur Musikarchäologie, 4. Orient-Archäologie, 15. Rahden, Westfalen: Verlag Marie Leidorf. 117–24.
