Orfeo

Taphonomy and Conservation

The extent to which objects' materials and surfaces reflect the
ways they were once used is complicated by their long exposure
to biological, chemical and mechanical processes in the ground,
and even during their recovery and treatment. Thus while an
appreciation of taphonomy, the science of decay and survival, is
vital to our understanding of all such fragile traces, it is equally vital
that excavators and conservators understand their nature and
importance, if they are to survive excavation and preservation.

Museums and Research Collections

With ancient music's material evidence at the heart of
his investigations Graeme Lawson attaches especial
weight to finds-survey work and to professional liaison
with archaeological colleagues in museums, in the
conservation laboratory and in the field.

A particular kind of survey, the regional 'blind' survey unlimited by
type, proves the most effective - and economical - way of
recovering new evidence from existing collections. Pioneered in the
1970s with researchers such as Cajsa Lund (Sweden) and Joan
Rimmer (Netherlands), such survey subjects collections to
rigorous inspection, not through their catalogues but through sight
of the whole material, tray by tray, unprejudiced by previous
categorisations. It is a time-consuming but rewarding process.
Today, in addition to regular contributions to archaeology's primary
literature of excavation reports, survey in turn enables Cambridge
Music-archaeological Survey to supply technical feedback on a
range of important practical museological issues.

To meet this challenge CMAR engages closely with conservation
scientists, promoting the special character and particular needs of
music-archaeological finds, and the consequent importance of
dedicated conservation regimes. Following the success of its
Musical instruments: Guides to Identification for Excavators and
Conservators in the early 1980s the series is soon to be reissued
in a new, fully revised format.

Music-archaeological Science

The great benefit of all such finds is their susceptibility to
scientific analysis.

Being part of the material world we can interrogate them in the same
way that planetary scientists probe the solar system and forensic
scientists investigate evidence of crimes. Musical instruments of all
kinds can be reconstructed and subjected to experimental tests of
their engineering structures and musical capabilities. Ergonometry
can point to functional implications of designs. Even landscape
monuments and architectures can be subjected to detailed
acoustimetric analysis.

Some of the most exciting new work concerns the analysis of
materials and surfaces. Timbers may be dated and even
provenanced by dendrochronology, other materials by mineralogical
and metallurgical analysis. Wood and bone can yield radiocarbon
dates. Deposits on surfaces may indicate preservative treatments or
preserve delicate traces of missing components. Remains of the
musicians themselves can be explored, pathology revealing their
health and stable isotope analysis of their teeth showing where they
grew up. Optical and electron microscopy of bone, metal and
mineral surfaces shows that they preserve traces of how some
instruments were used.