(Fwd) Re: Horns used as sounding instruments
georgejayne
georgejayne at lineone.net
Fri Nov 7 02:47:41 CET 2003
Dear David,
see notes below.
my best,
George
George Nash
Orchard Cottage,
Weobley Marsh,
Herefordshire,
HR4 8RP.
Tel. 0044 1544 318 512
Mob. 07947 558 402
Website:http:www.georgenash.freeserve.co.uk
Center for the Historic Environment,
Department of Archaeology,
University of Bristol,
43 Woodlands Road,
Bristol,
England.
----------
>From: Alice Choyke <h13017cho at helka.iif.hu>
>To: BONETOOLS at LISTSERV.IIF.HU
>Subject: (Fwd) Re: Horns used as sounding instruments
>Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2003, 4:39 pm
>
>------- Forwarded message follows -------
>Dear Alice Choyke:
>
>Many thanks for forwarding this item about the possible bone flute.
>
>You are correct that I am not subscribed to this list. But for your courtesy I
>would not have known that anyone noticed my question. I have heard nothing
>from the list since then, and so I assume there are no other replies.
>
>The forwarded post seems highly noteworthy, but an acoustician is not to be
>relied upon for scholarly insights into worked bone. I can and will raise an
>issue out of left field, and hope you will forgive my innocence if it is wrong or
>trivial. I can and will make an obvious suggestion about the further acoustical
>study of this flute.
>
>Here it comes, for whatever it's worth.
>
>Let's assume that the bone is a flute, and was interred with the person
>because the flute was powerfully identified with that person What purpose
>might the flute have served in that person's life?
I would suggest that the concept of performance is inherent in society and
music forms part of this medium - it is what makes us and Neolithic people
human. The flute would have probably been a special, personal item which
would have had the imprint of its maker and user. The fute was found within
a burial context, in a monument that can be considered as haveing corporate
use (i.e. many people are buried rather than a single person). This
corporate monumentality was once considered to involve all people from the
same tribal group. However, it is now considered (through the use of DNA)
that the monument was periodically opened to inter individuals from the same
family group. I would therefore suggest that the flute did not belong to a
shepard but to an individual from a ruling class. The flute is probably both
functional and symbolic. By this, I mean that the functionallity - as an
instrument - provided entertainment, amusement and power to the individual
whilst living. Whilst on the journey between life and death, the flute would
provided symbolic music in the after life. A similar use of symbolic items
can be seen with the deposition of polished stone axes from the same period.
>
>Doubtlessly, many of my musical acoustic colleagues would immediately
>assume that its function was musical. But perhaps its primary purpose was
>practical.
see above
>
>Since the supposed flute was worked from a sheep bone, perhaps the
>interred person was powerfully connected with sheep. Considering the terrain
>and the limited occupational choices, an obvious guess is that the interred
>may have been a sheep herder.
see above - although the main faunal evidence for monuments of this type do
include the burnt remains of domestic sheep, pig and cattle, usually within
small pits located around the monument (especially within the facade area).
>
>What practical use might a Neolithic sheep herder have for a flute? This is the
>question I should like to be put to those familiar with the practices of sheep
>herders.
There is a little bit anthropological evidence from Eastern Europe which
involve the use of flutes, chanting and singing to sheep.
>
>Why are later shepherds persistently identified with flutes, pipes, and horns.
>It is in the nature of sheep and other herd animals. Sheep (and perhaps other
>grazing herd animals) tend to wander off and need to be rounded up at the
>end of each day. That's the shepherd's job, and this is where sound devices
>enter as important shepherd tools.
It is probable that the noise from the instrument is eventually recognised -
like a conditional reflex to mean food - the shepard may use his flute to
guide his sheep to new pastures.
>
>I am told that sheep (modern sheep at least) recognize the sound of their
>shepherd's flute, pipe, or horn, and respond by homing on the sound. Thie
>memories of this touching but important fact and daily ritual of shepherd life
>are retained. Obvious example in the English-speaking world: "Little boy blue
>come blow your horn ... "
>
>Shepherd's need a portable sound device to make unique sounds that carry a
>good distance. Flutes are not all that loud. Horns are louder. I don't know
>enough about shepherding to be sure that I understand why herders used
>flutes. But I'll bet there is a practical reason that has to do with shepherding.
>Again, ask the experts. Whatever the practical reason, shepherds would have
>plenty of time to invent music as a byproduct. Thus, shepherd music could
>have grown out of herder necessity.
>
>Many allusions to shepherds come to us from the Near East through Judeo-
>Christian writings, and are embedded deeply in our culture. For example,
>consider metaphors about straying or lost sheep. Christian clergy are seen
>as "shepherds" or "pastors" which has a similar original meaning. We (the
>laity) are their ever-straying flock.
>
>Shepherds are favored over farmers according to my reading of the sources of
>that culture. Cain was a farmer and Abel the shepherd, the dichotomous
>Neolithic occupations. The God of the Hebrew bible favored the blood
>sacrifices of the firstlings of Abel's flock to Cain's vegetable offering. The
>Patriarchs of Genesis enter Egypt as shepherds and soon after they emerge,
>led by a prince of Egypt who had become a shepherd in Midian. The God of
>Exodus "calls" his flock with a shofar - which I suspect was originally a
>shepherd horn - to receive the 10 Commandments (Exodus Chapter 19.)
>David was a shepherd-king. Christ is both "The Good Shepherd" and "The
>Lamb of Sacrifice". (This is the short list.)
>
>I need your help with a problem I'm having with this hypothesis. I have found
>no evidence in the archaeological record that Hebrew or proto-Hebrew
>shepherds used shofars for signalling or sheparding. There is irrefutable
>evidence in scripture of the shofar's use for signaling and in warfare. There is
>historical written evidence for their use in the second temple for signaling
>(e.g., announcing the New Moon). Although there is abundant iconographic
>evidence of shofars as symbols on the floors of ancient synagogues, I have
>not found any evidence of material remains of an ancient shofars Why is
>that?
>
>I suppose that animal horns originate as hair rather than bone. Although
>horns are not bones, I'm hoping that someone in your group can tell me
>whether animal horns are likely or unlikely to persist in the archaeological
>record.
>
>Here is my practical suggestion for study of this "flute". Forgive me if this is
>already old stuff to your august group. Could it be useful for the acoustical
>study of this flute to cast replicas and distribute them to various laboratories
>that study musical archaeology. There are modern methods of nondestructive
>scanning of a 3-dimensional object and replication by machine. This could
>help to bring unite specialists who don't usually communicate with each other
>in common cause. For better or worse!
If you wish, I can send you a drawing of the flute and the original paper by
Vincent Megaw (1984). I am sure that the flute plays in the chord of C.
According to David Clarke of the National Museum of Scotland another
so-called Neolithic/Bronze Age pseudo-pipe has been found at Skara Brae (RC
date of 2000 BC).
The reference to the description of the monument is:
Children, G. & Nash, G.H. 2001. The Prehistory of Breconshire. Monuments in
the Landscape Volume IX. Logastone Press.
>
>Best regards,
>
>David Lubman
>Westminster, California
>------------------------
>h13017cho at helka.iif.hu wrote:
> Dear David,
> Since you are not on the bonetool list I thought I
> had better forward you this response.
> hope it helps!
>
> Alice Choyke
> ------- Forwarded message follows -------
> Date sent: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 00:20:48 +0100
> Send reply to: Mailing list for archaeologists of
> the research group for
> <BONETOOLS at LISTSERV.IIF.HU>
> From: georgejayne
> <georgejayne at lineone.net>
> Subject: Re: (Fwd) Horns used as sounding
> instruments
> To: BONETOOLS at LISTSERV.IIF.HU
>
> Dear David Lubman,
>
> I can't help you with horns but we do have in the
> UK a unique Neolithic site
> in Wales. The excavation revealed a bone flute,
> made from Ovis (sheep).This
> instrument was C14 dated to 3020+/-80bc and the
> earliest in Britain.
> Outlined below is the description of the monument
> where the flute was found.
> I am not sure what chord it is in - but probably
> C.
>
> Take care,
>
> George Nash,
> University of Bristol
> UK.
>
> 12. Penywyrlod, Talgarth
> NGR SO 1505 3156
> Monument Classification: BRE 14
> Not to be confused with Penywrlod [BRE 1],
> Llanigon, this monument stands on
> a small rise overlooking Mynydd Troed. Partly
> hidden by tree cover,
> Penwyrlod was discovered during quarrying and
> excavated in 1972. Much of the
> chamber and passage plan at the southern end of
> the mound remains intact.
> The mound, one of the largest in the area, is a
> Òhybrid¹ type of the later
> Severn-Cotswold design. Originally, Penwyrlod
> possessed two extended horns
> and a false portal at the southern end. These are
> no longer visible.
> However, three chambers with disturbed capstones,
> and the remains of two
> passages, can be clearly identified. The chambers
> and passages open out
> towards the Black Mountains and, to the west, the
> Brecon Beacons. However,
> the internal architecture, that is, the
> arrangement of chambers and
> passages, appears to be influenced only by the
> Black Mountains.
>
> Standing 260m above sea level, on the crest of a
> ridge above the Afon Llynfi
> valley, the monument is clearly valley aligned,
> even though the orientation
> is directly towards Mynydd Troed. Also worth
> noting is that the monument is
> inter-visible with three other nearby tombs -
> Ffostyll North (3) and South
> (4) and Pipton (8). All are similar
> architecturally and appear to share an
> affinity in terms of landscape topography and
> valley alignment.
>
> Prior to excavation, the northern section of the
> grass-covered mound had
> been heavily quarried. This had destroyed one side
> chamber, exposed another
> and revealed a false portal and central chamber
> lying beyond the main axis.
> Quarrying also revealed the original outline of
> the mound, which
> incorporated substantial revetment walling at the
> north-eastern end and
> along the south-eastern horn of the forecourt.
> Excavations at both ends of
> the axis suggested the mound measured 52m x 22.5m.
> A total of six
> excavations, mainly on the revetment facing north-
> east, exposed three
> side-chambers, a central chamber (access to which
> may have been from the
> north-east) and the north-eastern horn. The
> central chamber comprised two
> orthostats (still visible today) in-filled with
> earth and sandstone. The
> excavation report (Britnell & Savory 1972)
> suggests these were tilted
> inwards to support a large capstone(s), the entire
> structure then being
> covered by a rubble cairn. The north-eastern
> chamber had been almost totally
> destroyed; only a single orthostat remained that
> appeared to form two
> separate compartments measuring 2m x 1.2m and 1.6m
> x 1m. The latter was
> entered from a passage between two revetment
> walls. Fallen uprights
> indicated a second chamber, measuring 2.85m x 1m x
> 1.3m, on the
> north-eastern side. A slab sealed the chamber,
> giving the impression of a
> false entrance, a feature commonly found within
> the Severn-Cotswold region.
> The third excavated chamber lay at the terminal
> end of the mound and
> revealed an entrance with supporting revetment
> walls.
>
> Much disarticulated human bone was recovered from
> chambers two - where long
> bones were piled against the foot of the side-
> walls - and three ñ the
> remains from which possibly formed part of an
> ossuary deposit (RCHAM(W):40).
> A flint knife, a possible bone flute and many
> animal bones accompanied the
> human remains. Several fragments of Abingdon ware
> were recovered from within
> the same chamber area, beneath the entrance.
> George Nash
> Orchard Cottage,
> Weobley Marsh,
> Herefordshire,
> HR4 8RP.
>
> Tel. 0044 1544 318 512
> Mob. 07947 558 402
> Website:http:www.georgenash.freeserve.co.uk
>
> Center for the Historic Environment,
> Department of Archaeology,
> University of Bristol,
> 43 Woodlands Road,
> Bristol,
> England.
>
> ----------
>
> From: Alice Choyke <h13017cho at helka.iif.hu>
> To: BONETOOLS at LISTSERV.IIF.HU
> Subject: (Fwd) Horns used as sounding
> instruments
> Date: Tue, Oct 14, 2003, 9:17 pm
>
>
>
>
> ------- Forwarded message follows -------
> Date sent: Mon, 13 Oct 2003
> 12:59:21 -0700
> From: David Lubman
> <dlubman at ix.netcom.com>
> Organization: David Lubman &
> Associates
> To:
> bonetools at listserv.iif.hu
> Subject: Horns used as
> sounding instruments
>
> Dear Sirs/Madams:
>
> I am an acoustical scientist in California
> (USA) studying the ancient
> history of the "shofar".
>
> I seek evidence from the archaeological
> record of the ancient use of the
> horns of herd animals for sounding, perhaps
> by shepherds, and especially
> in the middle east.
>
> I am aware that the word "shofar" is derived
> from the Assyrian
> "shapparu" which I understand to be a wild
> goat of the ibex family.
>
> I speculate that animal horns found mundane
> uses by shepherds for
> calling over long distances for many hundreds
> of years before they
> became the ritual instrument we know today.
>
> I will be most grateful for scholarly
> references and opinions.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> David Lubman, FASA
> Acoustical Consultant
> 14301 Middletown Lane
> Westminster, CA USA 92683
> 714.898.9099
>
>
>
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
>
>
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
>
>
>
>
>------- End of forwarded message -------
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