Session: #731

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each

Title & Content

Title:
Music Archaeology: Recent Trends and Future Challenges
Content:
This session aims to debate recent developments in music archaeology, where music is understood as a human behaviour that leaves patterns in the archaeological record. It is a crucial cultural element that embodies a significant set of symbolic values, specific behaviours, culturally-defined concepts and a highly specialized set of material culture, which requires a particular theoretical and methodological framework. In addition, there is also an increasing awareness of the importance of music for the human species, based upon neurological studies, music cognition research and evolutionary perspectives, adding to the complex interdisciplinarity of studies dealing with past musical cultures. Finally, ancient music is a powerful tool for engaging audiences with archaeological heritage. Ancient music dissemination is a field on its own that manifests its own trends and challenges.
In this session, we would like to invite researchers to share recent investigations into past music cultures, with a special focus on theoretical and methodological challenges regarding the study of music as culture (such as, for instance, the interconnectedness between music and gender, music and power or music and identity); the study of music as a biological human feature; and the interaction between both cultural and biological perspectives (including neurological, evolutionary and phenomenological approaches). We also welcome reflections on the limitations of contemporary approaches to past music, including modern conceptions of music projected onto past cultures as well as presentations dealing with public engagement and dissemination of archaeological musical heritage, which calls for negotiations between research, art and entertainment.
Keywords:
Music Archaeology, Archaeoacoustics, Ethnomusicology, Performance
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no

Organisers

Main organiser:
PRAS Raquel Jiménez Pasalodos (Spain) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Prof. Dr. Cajsa S. Lund (Sweden) 3,2
Dr Carlos García Benito (Spain) 4
Affiliations:
1. Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
2. European Music Archaeology Project
3. Linnaeus University, Växjö-Kalmar, Sweden
4. Centro de Estudios Turiasonenses, Spain