Archaeoacoustics

People did not just look at things through history. They also heard them, smelled them, tasted them and touched them. In this thoughtfully-designed volume contributors can describe how the sound quality of a certain site or artifact contributes to our understanding of the reason for that site's or artifact's existence. The 12 papers cover much more than one would expect, and although music is a presence, so is the issue of acoustics as an element of archeology, intentional and unintentional sound in Neolithic monuments, acoustic intentionality in antiquity, rock-art placement by acoustics, deducing significance, theaters and their design, the use of sound resonance, timber halls and lyres, hunter-gatherer music and the origin of music and rhythm. Distributed by The David Brown Book Company. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)