Current Trends in Archaeoacoustics

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeoacoustics: Sound, Hearing, and Experience in Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In recent years, archaeological research has trended toward the exploration of the experiences of past people, particularly through engagement with the senses, seeking new methodologies and associated theories to develop this understanding. Sounds and auditory experiences occurred ubiquitously throughout time and within all cultures and were ascribed cultural meanings. Current research approaches to archaeoacoustics, psychoacoustics, neuroacoustics, soundscapes, and archaeomusicology are as variable as the sonic hypotheses that can be explored. The importance of what was and was not heard in the past is approached through a variety of methods including subject-centered survey, on-site experimentation and recording, reproduction or playing of instruments, and computer-aided modeling such as virtual reality or geographic information systems approaches. Theoretical approaches such as affordance theory, performance theory, and phenomenology situate our methods and task us to delve deeper, considering how auditory experiences conferred connotations of power or contributed to the formation of individual and group identities. This paper serves as an introduction to the papers being presented within the symposium “Archaeoacoustics: Sound, Hearing, and Experience in Archaeology,” and presents a general overview of the field of archaeoacoustics by reviewing commonly employed methods and theories.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Archaeoacoustics: Sound, Hearing, and Experience in Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32001