Use of Aquatic Resources As Possible Sound Artefacts Or Musical Instruments and Their Symbolism During the Prehistory

Use of aquatic resources as possible sound artefacts or musical instruments and their symbolism during the prehistory

Marina Zafra Granados*1

*Corresponding author: [email protected] 1University of C´adiz

Keywords: Prehistory, Aquatic, Music, Resources

Research goals

This dissertation provides an interdisciplinary study of Underwater Archaeology and Music Archaeology to the understanding of the phenomenon of music during prehistory, through the study of aquatic resources as possible sound artefacts or musical instruments. This study oﬀers an approach to the problem of the study of aquatic resources, as well as its relationship with the environment and its subsequent symbolic involvement with these communities during prehistory. Meanwhile, we will try to create a methodological framework for the study of these possible sound artefacts or musical instruments and their evolution.

Abstract and other aspect

The phenomenon of music has accompanied us since our origins, and it is currently an essential part of our day. Bearing in mind that nowadays music generates different types of behaviours and feelings for individuals of the same culture, for many, thinking about the meaning or development that it had during prehistory is an idea that will always be far from our understanding. It was even inaccessible to create an approach, archaeologically speaking. During these last years the relationship between music and human evolution has been explored from different perspectives, arguing in general that this is a mechanism capable of promoting group identity, survival a very powerful cultural communication mechanism that acted on the group to unify the community, coordinate and achieve common goals (Salius i Gumá, 2010). The studies that were carried out until very recently on the music in the prehistory often considered only the direct archaeological evidence of the Upper Paleolithic, and have unfounded these studies and results like synonyms of the origin of the music. Considering that theoretically, they would dominate the percussion instruments to the melodic instruments during the prehistory. This idea is apparently contrary to the results that we have obtained in the database, since 94% of those who have recorded are aerophones, and between they highlight triton horns with Neolithic chronology. Today although it is true that there is no irrefutable evidence of musical instrumentation prior to the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe, (Morley, 2003) also most of the research has focused on the study of aerophones, leaving aside other types of instruments during prehistory, since these have been better preserved, are more visible within the archaeological record, and have aroused greater interest on the part of numerous researchers due to the complexity in the technical design of some of these. But this great sophistication in the technological design suggests that said instruments must have had certain previous conceptual stages. According to several researchers and observing ethnographic examples, we can surely consider “rattles” as one of the first sound artefacts (Brade, 1975). There are a great diversity of designs and these are almost universally found throughout the world. The pendants suspended from the neck, arms, legs or clothes shook during the movements and produced rattle sounds. This sound is often used to highlight dance or group

1 coordination in certain modern ethnographic groups. We can find evidence of this type of ornaments even in the Neandertals themselves. This has been interpreted as a test of symbolic thought, and there are also indications to think that the origin of these was prior to the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe. In this sense, archaeology has not become aware of the methodological tools necessary to face the study of what might be sound artefacts of these characteristics during the prehistory and protohistory. When carrying out any type of study on the prehistory, and in particular perhaps of Archeomusicology and on aquatic resources we are before some singularities. To the fact that we can only find material remains and the poor conservation of these, we must add the difficulty of interpreting the registry, and the lack of a good work methodology (Garcia, 2014). We have always used different aquatic resources for a variety of purposes since prehistory. These created deep signs of identity in certain societies, and even today these resources continue to have great symbology and importance for many cultures. We have used them to produce dyes, food sustenance, decorative elements or even sound artefacts among other uses. These have had fundamental importance at the time of being able to understand our past and the different contexts, but they have not always been given the importance that they should have. It has been defended that it was the anatomically and cognitively modern man who started the exploitation of aquatic resources around 50 and 40 ka. It is said that this exploitation began with the appearance of the so-called modern behaviour (Cuadrado, 2016). It is this idea of the cultural revolution that has impeded any other evolutionary version of the cognitive abilities of hominids and has distorted our view of their way of life and their abilities. In this way, it has lately become more and more inescapable to ask whether other hominids, even before the Neanderthal, could also possess certain modern cognitive characteristics. In addition, artefacts made with these resources or materials gained cultural importance through their modification in these populations. We will try to create a methodological frame of reference when will we try to deal with certain artefacts of this nature. Meanwhile, we try to find in the archaeological record since until very recently there was no interest in the study of these, and many of these resources have been documented as simple food support for these populations. We must come to understand that other conceptual forms came to adopt these aquatic resources. Although these have had a fundamental importance in archaeology, at the time of being studied in different contexts, these have not been as studied or proposed as other terrestrial resources have been. In Spain, Archaeomusicology has been developed little by little, and even today, this is still very unknown by the general public and by the scientific community. In addition, especially the knowledge of music in prehistory, is very scarce in the Iberian Peninsula. In this context, it is necessary to study the role of everything that encompassed the sound phenomenon since it is completely linked to many aspects and issues of our day to day in the past and our origins, which we will not be able to solve or understand if not we approach it from other perspectives. In this case from the sound-musical perspective. Finally, through the presentation of this work within the framework of the II Congreso de Jóvenes Inves- tigadores del Mar, we aspire to create a debate among the different scientific disciplines that meet in this, in order to enrich ourselves from the experience and perspective of the attending researchers, to the time to give a little more knowledge about Archaeomusicology among the general public.

References

Brade, C., 1975. Die mittelalterlichen kernspaltflötenMittel - und Nord Europas: Ein Beitrag zur Uberliefer-¨ ung prähistoricher und zur Typologie mittelalterlicher Kernspaltflöten. GottingerSchriften zürvor und Frügeschichte 14, Wacholz, Neumunster. Cuadrado, L., 2016. “Medios y recursos acuáticosen los hom´ınidospremodernos: planteamiento, semántica y el caso paradigmáticode los mariscos. Revista Onoba 4, 197–214.

Garcia, C., 2014. Arqueolog´ıaMusical Prehistórica:aproximacióna travésde la Arqueolog´ıaExperimental aplicada a la Arqueo-Organolog´ıa,de la Arqueoacústicay de la Iconograf´ıaMusical Prehistórica.Univer- sidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza. Salius i Gumá,J., 2010. Etnoarqueomusicolog´ıa: una herramienta metodológicaemergente a desarrollar. Revista Atlántica-Mediterráneade Prehistoria y Arqueolog´ıaSocial 12, 95–106.

2 Morley, I., 2003. The Evolutionary Origins and Archaeology of Music. Darwing College, Cambridge Univer- sity, United Kingdom.