----- Original Message -----
From: Norm Cohen <[log in to unmask]>
<<This reminds me of an item I read years ago about the earliest recorded
worksong--dating from the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. Seems that
the workers sang as they smoothed out the mortar between the blocks with
their trowels. This forms a reasonable analog of a cutting stylus on a wax
platter. The song was recovered 3000 years later by an archeologist running
his trowel along the same layer of morter.
(Possible objection to this neat story--weren't the pyramids built without
mortar? or was that the case only in the new world?)>>
I believe they were. In any case, I have serious doubts about the story.
On the other hand, someone seriously tried recovering sounds from pots that
had had spiral grooves cut in them. All they got, unfortunately, was
low-frequency noise, probably turntable (potter's wheel) rumble. Evidently
the tools didn't pick up airborne sound very well, but they were great at
impressing the vibrations of the wheel in the clay. Or, possibly, the
potters weren't saying or singing anything.
Peace,
Paul
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