Hearing the Past: Essays in Historical Ethnomusicology and the Archaeology of Sound (review)

This book is the result of a conference held in 1991 at Darwin College, Cambridge, U.K., on comparative approaches to the archaeology of music and of sound making, especially in those cases where musical sounds or notation were either never made or may not have survived. As a result, for most of human history archaeologists of music have to rely on circumstantial evidence.

In the introduction, Ann Buckley discusses some of the possibilities and limitations of the archaeology of music. In her approach, music making has always taken place within certain social contexts that we should therefore seek to reconstruct. Archaeologists of music should follow the example set by established archaeologists, who try to understand ancient societies solely on the basis of material artifacts.

Next, a number of case studies is presented. In the first article, Cajsa Lund discusses some of above themes within the context of Scandinavian archaeology, while using the example of a recently found bullroarer—if that is what it really was.

Catherine Homo-Lechner next presents an overview of the great many problems encountered during the past two centuries while attempting to reconstruct European musical instruments and sounds with the aid of archeological relics, ancient texts, and pictures.

Inge Skog discusses the documentary evidence and established scholarship concerning the history of gongs from North Borneo as well as the related Javanese gamelan. Unwarranted scholarly conclusions from often suspect documents have led to the perpetuating of images that appear more geared to establishing a respectable history of their musical past than to reconstructing their real history.

Kenneth DeWoskin discusses ancient Chinese musical finds. I was struck the most by the discovery of sets of well-preserved flutes from the Neolithic village of Jiahu, which would date back more than 7,000 years. If authentic, they may well be the oldest musical instruments found to date.

Reis Flora explores the evidence for musical contacts some 4,000 years ago between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. This includes ancient—perhaps the most ancient—depictions of lutes and harps.

Mostly based on vase paintings, Jane M. Snyder wonders how affluent women in ancient Athens played their tunes.

Jon Solomon next ponders the question of whether, or to what extent, such vase paintings may have represented the reality of contemporary music making, not least because most artists appear to have been solo musicians that were portrayed in rather stylized ways.

In the last contribution, Daniel Delattre traces ancient Greek and Roman discussions on the importance of music making.

Although the above articles were slotted under the headings "Intellectual Assonances and Dissonances,""Long-Term Resonances," and "Representations and Reflections," I did not really detect any great coherence among them. In my view, this book is the result of a valiant attempt to bring together scholars who operate mostly on their own or within their very limited specializations.

In fact, a human history of music making does not yet exist. Hearing the Past should therefore be seen as a first stepping stone—no more, no less. Music making may well be one of the most elusive, and therefore perhaps most underestimated, aspects of human history. If this book were to help stimulate such interest, it would certainly have achieved its goal.