More sound archaeology

It's been slow around here archaeology-wise, although I did get to see a bunch of maps that trace the Old San Antonio road and the Camino Real and some other old Spanish roads across Texas.
However, there was another really interesting story on NPR the other day about new technology to recover old recordings. I posted a while back about a record company specializing in "lost" recordings, and this new story kind of builds on that. Basically, a physicist was listening to NPR a couple of years ago when they did another story about old acetate and cylinder recordings and how they were so rare and fragile that playing them would actually destroy them. So this scientist devised a way to use a camera and a computer to basically photograph the grooves (like a scanner almost) and then use that data to "play" the recording. Nothing actually comes in contact with the original, therefore there's no damage being done. Not only that, but it can actually "smooth" out skips and flawlessly play a record that was broken but put back together. Essentially, this means that one-of-a-kind old recordings can be heard, and are digitized in the process. Naturally, the Library of Congress is already on it to digitize their archives. An interesting anthropological note is another project to play old cylinder recordings of Ishi, which is an interesting story in itself and worth talking to Colleen about when she gets back from Turkey.
One other interesting (to me) aspect of this is the devising and/or borrowing technology to uncover the past. While most people think of archaeologists with a pick, shovel, trowel, brush and screen, we sometimes use some pretty fancy gear. GPS units with sub-meter accuracy to record precise locations of artifacts and features, magnetometer and ground penetrating radar to search for deposits in a non-destructive fashion, some places even do seismic tests on structures. Then there's all the crazy dating methods you can use, mineral sourcing, it goes on and on.
There's so much we can learn about our culture, and our past, from these old recordings. It's really exciting and I really hope they make these available online at low or no cost, for the information and aesthetic value.

Cool story on NPR

Well, there's usually a lot of cool stories on NPR. Driving to the gym after work, they had a feature about old, "lost" recordings and a company called Archeophone Records. I recently read a book whose title escapes me (I think it lent it and the accompanying CD) to Eric, but it was written by a guy who spent a lot of time tracking down old blues 78 rpm records and the artists who recorded them. Revenant Records has released some similar albums. But I did like that the company called itself Archeophone, because it's very evocative of the symbolic "digging" for lost treasures that also provide glimpses into the past and culture.
When I was listening to the show, I remembered that my great-grandma Lona (who we called Grandma B) had an old stereo system in her house when we were kids, and how the record slots were designed for (and actually held) old 78s. Some of these were the thick, brittle old "wax" records, rather than the more modern vinyl equivalents. I can't remember any of the recordings, although I suspect it was inspirational music. I doubt it was the country or black gospel religious music, which would have been awesome. I want to say that after she died and some cousins moved into the house, that stereo was put into a barn. Next time I'm at the farm in Ohio, I'm going to have to look for that.
Later this evening, on Antiques Roadshow, one of the people brought in an old Edison home phonograph inside a large wooden cabinet, with 3 drawers of old cylinders. After telling about the history of the player and the cabinets, they ended the segment by actually showing that the player still worked! Unfortunately, they didn't spend any time talking about the cylinders, how rare they are, how valuable some of those might be, or any examples of what was in the collection. I guess they have time limitations, but while an Edison home phonograph is really rare (4-5k appraisal), it's not impossible that one or more of those cylinders may be the only existing copy of that particular recording, which is invaluable! Which brings us back to Archeophone, because not only are they preserving and reissuing these lost songs, but they're doing it for the cultural and innate worth of the music and history, not for the dollar signs, like most archaeology.