古代乐器陈设

具有数千年文明的中国,乐器出现甚为久远。在距今8000年左右的河南舞阳贾湖裴李岗文化墓葬中就曾出土十余支骨笛,骨笛是用鸟腿的骨管制作的,管壁上多钻七孔,不仅发音准确、优美,而且有的已是七声音阶齐备,这在世界音乐史上都是十分珍贵的。在距今六、七千年以前的河姆渡文化及仰韶文化早期遗址中还出土了数量可观的骨哨和陶哨,骨哨是骨笛的前身,陶哨又称陶埙(一种卵圆形的单音孔或多音孔吹奏乐器)。     

河姆渡遗址出土“骨哨”研究

浙江河姆渡遗址经过1973年与1977年两次考古发掘,出土了一百余件用禽类肢骨加工的带孔骨管。当时经音乐工作者鉴定,认为是作为乐器使用的哨、笛。数十年来,河姆渡遗址出土的管状带孔骨器是一种乐器——骨哨(笛)的观点被学界和社会广为接受。但最新的微痕研究表明它不是作为乐器使用的器具,很有可能是一种古老的原始纺织器具。     

南北方竹笛演奏风格的浅显分析

竹笛的历史久远,产生于新石器时期的骨哨和骨笛。中国考古工作者在距今约7000年的浙江省余姚河姆渡古文化遗址发现了大批的骨哨。所以笛子是所有管乐的鼻祖。而1987年在河南省舞阳县贾湖古文化遗址出土了一批骨笛,与中国     

内蒙古敖汉旗兴隆洼文化八千前年骨笛研究

1986年,在兴隆洼遗址的发掘中发现了一支骨笛。这支骨笛经研究、修复、测音,能准确演奏完美的乐曲,从而把中国古代音乐乐器制作史提前到距今8000年,是中国音乐乐器史上的一项重大发现,对推动中华文明探源工程有着极为深刻的意义。     

爱尔兰哨笛

正爱尔兰哨笛是传统凯尔特乐器的一种,有着悠久的历史。其地位在凯尔特音乐中相当于中国民乐中的竹笛、箫等。它是一种很特别的乐器,可以让听者领略到真正的爱尔兰气息,或是任何一种美妙的风景。哨笛起源于中国的箫,十一世纪传入欧洲。十五世纪爱尔兰宫廷就有关于御用哨笛手的记载,哨笛有六个孔,俗称六孔箫笛,或者六孔哨笛。十九世纪前页,一个叫Clarke的人在曼彻斯特开办了一     

贾湖出土骨笛及相关问题

贾湖遗址出土的一批骨笛,为研究我国音乐、乐器发展提供了十分宝贵的实物资料,许多学者包括发掘者本人对这批骨笛的结构性能、音乐发展水平、骨笛拥有者之身份等都做了不同程度的分析研究。“骨笛的主要功能当是施行巫术的法器,次要功能才是乐器”。“贾湖骨笛和龟铃是中国音乐文明之源”。单从贾湖出土骨笛本身分     

贾湖骨笛复原新技术研究

贾湖骨笛是迄今为止我国历史上最早、形态完整、现今仍可演奏的吹管乐器,是9000～7500年前中国古代科技文明最重要的实物载体之一。由于骨笛经历数千年的埋藏,出土时多数已经破损。如何对破损的贾湖骨笛进行精确复制,是学界急待解决的难题。我们巧妙地利用CT扫描、数据处理、三维模型重建、虚拟复原与激光快速成型技术,复原出与M494:2号骨笛实物十分接近复原品。这种利用计算机虚拟修复的思想与技术为破损贾湖骨笛的复原开辟了一条新的技术途径。     

薪尽火传 追寻正声——河南博物院华夏古乐团古代音乐文化的复原与传承

正中原自古为礼乐之邦,这片丰厚的土地上有着源远流长的历史文明、灿若星河的文物遗存和丰富多彩的音乐文化。2000年,河南博物院组建了华夏古乐团。华夏古乐团的成立与发展,是河南博物院对文物陈列延伸、考古成果复原研究和非物质文化遗产传承的一种创新与尝试。我们针对史前至唐宋古代乐器进行了复制研发,史前骨笛,骨哨,陶鼓、陶埙;商代陶埙排箫,特磬铜铙;两周的编钟编磬、木鼓木瑟;汉唐时期的琴筝阮笛、琵琶箫管等,共有十     

山东史前乐器初探

本文主要根据最近几年山东地区的田野考古资料,对发掘中出土的一些史前时期的陶鼓、笛柄杯、陶响器、陶(骨)哨、陶号角、陶铃、陶埙等乐器作了介绍,并就与此相关问题进行了初步的探讨。     

神奇的远古贾湖骨笛

贾湖骨笛是由大型禽鸟双翅上的尺骨制作的。据鉴定这种禽鸟为丹顶鹤。尺骨两端的关节已被截去,成为中空的骨管,长度为23．6厘米,骨管的一侧整齐排列7个圆孔。虽经8000多年风雨水土的侵蚀,骨笛通体呈现棕褐色且略有斑驳,但却依然光亮润泽,风骨犹存。     

Soundscapes of the Everyday in Ancient Oaxaca, Mexico

In ancient Mexico, sensory engagement in the form of oratory, music, and performance were major components of state-sponsored festivals and noble feasts. We think far less, however, about the soundscapes associated with rituals and everyday life in household contexts. Drawing on contextual, iconographic, and acoustic analyses of flutes, whistles, bells, costume ornaments, and ceramic vessels with rattle supports from the site of Río Viejo in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, we argue that sound-production created a shared spatial landscape that linked community members to one another. Even in the absence of visibility or participation, soundscapes were prominent, celebrated elements of everyday life that purposely blurred the boundaries between the natural, cultural, and spirit worlds.     

TL and IRSL dating of Jiahu relics and sediments: clue of 7th millennium BC civilization in central China

Thermoluminescence (TL) dating of pottery and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of sediments from early Neolithic layers at the Jiahu site, Henan Province, east-central China, have been achieved. The pottery TL ages range from 6800 (±450) to 8900 (±640) years and the sediment IRSL ages from 6750 (±760) to 8860 (±870) years confirming former ¹⁴C data. Both TL and IRSL ages agree well with each other. They reinforce the very early existence of a fully developed Neolithic civilization in central China, starting already in the first half of the 7th millennium BC and lasting about 2100 years. From these layers finds of bone flutes and Chinese characters have already been reported [X. Li, G. Harbottle, J. Zhang, C. Wang, The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province, China, Antiquity 77 (2003) 31–44; J. Zhang, G. Harbottle, C. Wang, Z. Kong, Oldest playable musical instruments found at Jiahu early Neolithic site in China, Nature 401 (1999) 366–368.] The Jiahu pottery of the 7th millennium BC belongs to the earliest in China and elsewhere.     

Experimental effects of bone size and temperature on bone diagenesis

In the ground, bone undergoes chemical and physical changes which affect its preservation. This fact has important implications for dating and other analytical procedures involving bone, as well as faunal analysis where differential preservation of bones of different species may affect conclusions regarding the relative significance of an animal to the economy of a given society. The diagenic processes in bone range from minor changes in the bone protein to complete structural and chemical breakdown.Using fresh cow bone, we conducted laboratory experiments which simulate the effect of temperature and bone size on the rate and nature of bone disintegration in archaeological sites. Temperature influences the rate of chemical change, and bone size and density affect the accessibility of the molecular constituents of bone to extrinsic chemical reactions. These findings clarify the importance of two well-known concepts in bone taphonomy. (1) The rate of chemical breakdown in bone tissues is related to the proximity of a given unit of tissue to the bone surface. This means that, in archaeological bone samples, tissue near the surface may be different chemically from tissue away from the surface and great care is necessary in choosing and preparing bone samples for analytical procedures. (2) In general, small bones are not as well preserved as large bones, therefore small animals are likely to be underrepresented in faunal assemblages.     

Destruction of microstructure in archaeological bone: a case study from Portugal

Sampling of archaeological human bone may not be justified, contrary to former high expectations regarding adult age assessment based on histomorphometry. The alterations in buried bone as a result of bacterial action are readily visible in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). An understanding of the chemical and structural changes to cortical bone requires work at the level of a few microns. This paper reports on problems encountered during analyses of samples of human bone from Mesolithic (ca. 8000 calbp) shell midden sites at Muge in central Portugal, and the methods used to try and overcome these problems. We believe we have shown that these Mesolithic bones are partly comprised of bacterially reprecipitated mineral, which has had collagen removed, with consequent obliteration of bone microstructure. We conclude that microbial destruction of the structure of archaeological bone can be a serious impediment to analysis of the characteristics of the population represented by those skeletal remains. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age‐Related Cortical Bone Maintenance and Loss in an Imperial Roman Population

This article explores age‐ and sex‐related patterns of cortical bone loss, assessed by radiogrammetry of the second metacarpal, from a skeletal sample excavated from the Imperial Roman port city of Velia (1st and 2nd century ad ), to contribute to our understanding of health and disease during the Imperial period. Patterns of age‐ and sex‐related bone loss and health at Velia are also compared with other historical samples and to modern clinical data. It was hypothesised that patterns of age‐ and sex‐related bone loss in this well‐represented Roman sample (n = 71) would mirror those reported in modern populations. Differences in the quantity of cortical bone between three age groups (18–29, 30–49 and 50+ years) are significant in both men and women; however, the pattern of bone loss differs between the sexes. Women show a gradual decline in bone quantity beginning in middle age, whereas men only lose bone in old age. However, there are no significant sex differences at any age group in the metacarpal cortical index. These findings suggest the hypothesis should be refuted because significant sex differences, particularly in old age, are an expected hallmark of bone loss in Western populations today. The possible biocultural and gender‐related factors that may have contributed to the observed patterns of bone maintenance and loss at Velia are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bone survival: The effects of sedimentary abrasion and trampling on fresh and cooked bone

It is commonly assumed that, at least when considering similar sized animals, the bones from all taxa stand an equal chance of preservation. This paper summarizes one aspect of a larger study undertaken in order to assess whether this assumption is true, based on the results of experiments and observations into the effects of a range of pre-depositional processes. The rates of bone destruction by sedimentary abrasion and by trampling are determined for small mammal, fish and frog bones. Patterns of bone loss and fragmentation are examined both between species and within the skeleton, for fresh and boiled bone. It is shown that there is considerable interspecies variation in the ability of bones to withstand these physical forces. Frog bone proved particularly resistant, while within the fish, bone from the Gadidae was less resilient than might be expected, given its predominance in British Medieval archaeological sites and coastal sites of all periods. Within the skeleton, bone shape appears to be a very important determinant of relative survival. Boiling dramatically reduces bone's resistence to destruction. The physical properties of fresh, boiled and burnt bone are compared mechanically, and the dramatic loss of strength induced by heating is demonstrated. The often voiced assumption that fish bone is more prone to destruction than mammal bone is shown to have some validity. The results add more evidence to support the view that comparison of species abundance by fragment counts may not always be appropriate, and that interpretation of skeletal element frequencies should be approached with caution.     

Bone frequencies: differential transport, in situ destruction,and the MGUI

Human transport of bones with high food values, and destruction of bones with low density values are the traditionally invoked explanations of the frequencies of bones in archeological contexts. The manner in which these two explanations have been used suggests archaeologists assume the explanations to be independent of one another. The transport explanation is operationalized as the modified general utility index (MGUI) of Binford, and the destruction explanation is operationalized with measures of bone density. Statistical correlation of the MGUI with bone density, while weak, indicates that many high utility bones have low density values while many low utility bones have high density values. Because low density bones tend to be destroyed more readily than high density bones, inferences of human utility strategies derived from bone frequencies and based on the MGUI may be inaccurate. The utility strategies suggested by three archaeofaunas are compared to bone density, and two of these faunas are shown to potentially be the result of differential destruction and not human transport as measured by the MGUI.     

Burned bone in the Howieson’s Poort and post-Howieson’s Poort Middle Stone Age deposits at Sibudu (South Africa): behavioral and taphonomic implications

Despite a growing awareness of the wide range of information that can be provided by detailed analyses of burned bone from archaeological contexts, such analyses are still relatively uncommon. This paper focuses on the behavioral and taphonomic implications of burned bone from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) site of Sibudu Cave (South Africa), reporting on the analysis of a large sample (>377,000 fragments) of bone recovered from the Howieson’s Poort (HP) and post-HP MSA deposits at the site. Faunal remains were initially sorted into burning categories based on changes in color; microscopic analyses focused on the optical properties of the bone matrix (degree of preservation of the bone structure, reflectance and fluorescence) indicated that the color is a valid indicator of thermally altered bone in the Sibudu assemblage. The association of burned bone with hearths, the intensity of burning damage, and the sheer quantity of thermally altered bone suggests that the bone was not burned primarily as a result of natural fires. We propose that the high incidence of burned bone primarily reflects two types of site maintenance activities: first, the discarding of bone into fire as a means of disposing of food waste (as also argued by Cain [2005, Using burned animal bone to look at Middle Stone Age occupation and behavior. J. Archaeol. Sci. 32, 873–884], for a smaller sample of material from the post-HP and late MSA deposits at the site), and second, the incidental burning of bone on/near the surface during the periodic burning of plant-based bedding. In considering the taphonomic implications of the burned bone, we demonstrate that calcined bone is in fact more heavily fragmented than unburnt or moderately burned bone. Furthermore, cortical preservation was negatively correlated with the intensity of burning damage, which has implications for the study of surface modifications. These results indicate the importance of conducting thorough taphonomic analyses prior to making comparisons between units that show differing degrees or intensities of burning damage.