Shang Soundscapes

Summary

Shang (c. 1600 – 1046 BCE) elites were expert manipulators of soundscape. The intimacy of the relationship between music and authority during Bronze Age China has been well established, bronze bells having served as crucial markers of status and political prestige. Before the codification of the ritual orchestra, however, and beyond the performance of "music" per se, soundscapes were defined by factors such as climate and local ecological context, by animals, by the noise of human activity at large. As early as the Shang, soundscape was a defining component of the Chinese habitus, evidenced by the prevalence of birds imagery in ornamentation as well as the rich array of noisemakers. This paper argues that Shang elites – and particularly ritual experts – wielded knowledge of local auditory contexts and utilized noisemakers such as rattles and jades in order to mediate between man, nature, and the ancestors. The resolution of natural cacophony through the orchestration of soundscape is an integral part of social evolution, or if one prefers, urban planning. Exploring Shang soundscapes is an opportunity to bridge scientific and humanistic approaches by combining analysis of the ecological record as well as man-made objects.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21985