Sound Tracks: Uncovering Our Musical Past

Despite the clickbait title, this turns out to be a perfectly serious book about how much archaeology has told us about human musical practice since earliest times. Lawson takes us in reverse chronological order (the way archaeology works!) back through finds, many of which he has worked on himself, from nineteenth century shipwrecks to palaeolithic cave floors. Each case-study gives him the opportunity to show us something about the questions archaeology can and can’t answer, and the way archeological evidence can be combined with information from other sources like documents and contemporary illustrations.

Whilst music itself is a notoriously evanescent experience, it leaves physical traces in the shape of instruments and components show more of instruments, buildings or other spaces adapted for musical performance, and representations of musical activity in carvings and sculptures. Occasionally there are even fragments of musical notation to be found — the earliest so far dates back to about three and a half thousand years ago.

Lawson has built and played replicas of various instruments found in archaeological sites, and he discusses how the practical insights of musicians and instrument-makers can often complement simple observation. For example, the “bone flutes” found in the Dordogne turn out not to be flutes at all — when Lawson attempted to play them in replica it was clear that the only way to get them to play a satisfactory note was to use the lips, as in modern brass instruments, so they were really something more like a renaissance cornett.

A fascinating book, not only for those interested in musical history, but in general for anyone who wants to get a better idea of how archaeologists think and what kinds of things archaeological evidence can tell us about the past. show less