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Annexus Quam 916 posts |
Sep 12, 2000, 20:07
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On an earlier post I referred to the 36,000 year old flute, but check this out! you may say I am always on and on about the ancients being psychologically equal or superior to us, which contradicts all ideas of "progress" and "evolution" since the first writing/roads back in Biblical times, but who needs that when you can freak'n'roll? "By BBC science correspondent Tom Heap Many of the Stone Age relics lying in our museums might not simply have been tools or weapons - they could also have been musical instruments. Ian Cross, a music professor at Cambridge University, UK, believes archaeologists have overlooked the melody making potential of certain items sitting in the display cases of world museums. The researcher has been presenting his findings and demonstrating his "rock music" to the British Association's Festival of Science. "They're exactly the sort of thing that would be interpreted in an archaeological record as a tool," he said, pointing to some artefacts. "If now I strike them, there is a possibility of producing sets of tools which have different pitches and possibly producing different patterns of pitches - music." The oldest known musical instrument is a bone pipe from Germany which dates back about 36,000 years. Ian Cross believes slivers of stone could have been used to make music much earlier. In order to research his theory, he found a man who could work a piece of flint in the same way that our Stone Age ancestors might have done. He then studied the rock implements and found that some of them, when suspended, produced a very pleasant ring. Different shapes and sizes made different tones to create a melody. With the help of a very low-tech device (two elastic bands and a small empty box), he made a little sound box and cradle. Rest the stone on it and you can play a tune. Professor Cross even arranged some sounds on his computer. The plausibility of the research is supported by other scientists who have studied the development of the human mind. Dr Stephen Mithen, from the University of Reading, UK, said that people could have been playing music even before language was developed. "We tend to think music was an add-on to language," Dr Mithen said. "It might be the other way round. Our ancestors could have been musical and language somehow evolved from that. It is a very effective way of communicating emotion." Studies have suggested that babies respond to music so early in their lives that music appreciation must be something instinctive in our brains rather than learnt from the environment. Professor Cross admits that he still lacks conclusive physical evidence. But he thinks he can find it. When the rocks are subjected to repeated light strikes, very distinctive wear patterns appear on their surfaces - thousand of minute conical craters. The Cambridge researcher now wants to sift through the collections of stone relics in world museums to look for these unique abrasions. It may not mean we would have to reclassify an arrowhead as a plectrum, but it would make the stone glockenspiel a real possibility" freak'n'roll!
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Vox Phantom 104 posts |
Sep 12, 2000, 21:00
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So - has he posted his computer assisted "rock" music anywhere?
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Annexus Quam 916 posts |
Sep 12, 2000, 22:08
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don't think so, vox, but check agitation free for connections, ha!
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Moon Cat 8885 posts |
Sep 13, 2000, 09:29
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I saw something the other night about he conical hat wearing dudes that appeared in the Far East thousands of years before Europeans where supposed to have got there. I think Mr Cope referred to these guys on his last book tour. Anyhoo...not only did they apparently wear funky threads, the archaeolgists unearthed a 3,000 year old black eye-make up stick! Kick eyeliner ass ancient peoples! Respect due for our glam/goth stone n' roll forefathers!
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johan 165 posts |
Sep 13, 2000, 10:58
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Weren't those the guys from Mongolia/China who wore tartan thousands of years BCE! Fascinating program, showed our common ancestry really well.
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Moon Cat 8885 posts |
Sep 13, 2000, 11:34
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That's the fellas. Now if only the archaeolgists find evidence of glitter and platforms being worn by these dudes, we're really rockin'.
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johan 165 posts |
Sep 13, 2000, 15:50
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Only trouble is, they grew into the culture that gave us probably the earliest and biggest example of the Roman Road/Autobahn/Motorway - namely the Spice Road! "...motorway services were the new cities..." Makes yer think. One man's MoFo is another man's NoNo
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Moon Cat 8885 posts |
Sep 13, 2000, 15:56
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Not sure whether they were responsible for the Spice Road (and the subsequent Posh Lay By, Scary Junction, Sporty Contra-flow and Baby Slip Road: The Ginger Roundabout got built over), or they lived in the area it was built through. Maybe they staged a pointy-hat protest when the builders moved in?! Be cool :-) MC
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Annexus Quam 916 posts |
Sep 13, 2000, 21:02
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The photos I saw when those dudes were discovered showed half-decomposing bodies of european descent, with... you said it! conical hats! which freaked me out of my mind for days on end - the noble savage, no way! the nagging freak! straight-thinking road-bound rednecked greedy planks have always been the scourge of this planet noooow I know where the minstrel you mention got his inspiration from for his 20 mothers-era looks
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Proserpine 195 posts |
Sep 22, 2000, 12:14
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Anyone checked out "Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age" by Richard Rudgley? It gives loads of examples of how ancient folks were far, far more intelligent than we give 'em credit for. He mentions Stalactites & Stalagmites being used to make music & bits of bone as percussive 'rasps' & 'scrapers' - this going way,way back in time. Yeah! Groovy!
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