(From Paul Devereux via Andrew Riley, Northern Earth)
Further to Andy Burnham's post re the 'Sounds from the Stone Age'
Channel 4 TV programme on 12 November, may I add a few points?
I thank him for his interest. Indeed it is the case that "Mr
Devereux's hand was at work". Along with my colleague Tony Edwards at
Third Eye Media, I have for well over two years now been trying to
get a TV programme shown on the nascent subject of acoustic
archaeology (you will recall the pioneering work on sound at
megalithic sites by Jahn and I was announced in an article in The Ley
Hunter 123, in 1995). One pitch after another to TV execs all proved
fruitless until we struck lucky at Channel 4 last year. The show was
then thrown into doubt by the foot & mouth crisis (we couldn't get
onto sites to film), but by this summer we were given last-minute
clearance. The concept, basic structure, necessary expert contacts,
and contents of the programme were provided by me. This material was
then converted into TV by Third Eye Media, and further glossed by the
director (who has veto power and controls the editing). So one
relinquishes considerable control. Nonetheless, I was reasonably
pleased with the outcome. There were a few minor errors of
archaeological information in the narrative commentary that I would
have corrected had I had the chance of hearing it before the prog was
finished, but it was basically OK.
Re Andy's specific concerns about the possibility of sound-generated
patterns in dust or incense smoke (or steam - see my STONE AGE
SOUNDTRACKS, Vega, 2001) inspiring some of the concentric and zigzag
rock art patterns at Newgrange. First, let me inform that I stated on
film that there are over 100 theories for rock art, and this was just
one more idea - unfortunately, this moderating perspective was edited
out (but is in my book). Second, it is possible to build up continuous
sound pressure by human action, using drums, certainly, or even just
the voice (ever heard Tibetan undertone chanting?). Further, and most
importantly, the way sound behaves in a small enclosed space is
dynamically different to open or wide spaces. You can actually
**hear** the pattern of a standing wave: quite close to a sound
source, for instance, when standing at the trough (node) of the
waveform, there can be silence - rather eerie for people who thought
of sound in supernatural terms rather than scientific ones. In
addition, there is the matter of the Newgrange passage blocking
stone. This is discussed at length in my book, but was edited out of
the film. With this stone (which exactly fits the entrance) in place,
the waveforms in the passage would have become intensified, while
midwinter sunrise sunlight shafting through the roof box could have
illuminated airborne components being organised by the sound waves.
So, it would have been possible - but whether it actually happened
is, as they say, another story. But a bit of lateral thinking is
always good exercise!
At the risk of making this sound like an advert, I would point out
that my book is the most comprehensive single-source work on acoustic
archaeology (and anthropology) currently available. Although it was
timed to come out with film (of course), it is far more than a "book
of the movie". In fact the reverse is the case - the film only
relates to about 2 chapters of the book, in which there is far more
detailed information (TV is a broad but shallow medium), and many
other aspects of sound in the ancient world are touched upon, ranging
from ringing rocks to musical stalactites to the use of sound to
control visionary experience under mind-altering drugs in ancient
rainforest rituals.
So please don't base all your thoughts just on the TV show: books have
Read the rest of this post... |