Fwd: 17.552, Media: 6500-year-old voices recorded in pottery!

[Sophia Stevenson]

It's not the recording that's in French, it's the video discussing the find that's in French... The recording played in the video is supposedly in Latin, from a vase fired in Pompeii.
   
  Having taken a few years of Latin, and after hearing that recording, I find this quite hard to believe. But if that isn't enough, the method of recording using a stylus wasn't used until 1877, when Edison recorded "Mary Had a Little Lamb." And I'm pretty sure he didn't use pottery... (I believe it was tinfoil, actually.) The chances that somebody's vocal vibrations passed into the instrument used to decorate the pottery, and that these vibrations survived through any type of glazing (as was the custom of the period), are incredibly slim.
   
  Still, it's a neat concept! Makes a good story too...
   
  Sophia Stevenson
  University of Quebec At Montreal

Mia Kalish <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US> wrote:
  Actually, I think the article references the process of early recording,
where a stylus like device vibrated and made little holes or dents in the
recording medium. So it's the same principle. Now, whether it's "French" is
really a stretch. English, which I know a bit about, has changed a lot I the
few thousand years we have been watching it. "French" would have had to
change a great deal more in 6,500. 

Mia

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Joshua Beck
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 11:01 AM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: 17.552, Media: 6500-year-old voices recorded in
pottery!

Boy, this is a tough one to believe, although who knows...it's a 
captivating possibility!

At 11:29 AM 2/20/2006, you wrote:
>I'm not sure how much I believe this, but it is certainly interesting. 
>(The pottery is from South America.)
>
>Barbara Need
>Manager (SS4), Computer Support, Archivist
>
>
>>LINGUIST List: Vol-17-552. Mon Feb 20 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.
>>Editor for this issue: Amy Renaud 
>>================================================================
>>
>>To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
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>>===========================Directory==============================
>>
>>1)
>>Date: 19-Feb-2006
>>From: Mike Matloff < michelhoo at yahoo.com >
>>Subject: 6500-year-old voices recorded in pottery!
>>
>>
>>-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
>>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 07:35:55
>>From: Mike Matloff < michelhoo at yahoo.com >
>>Subject: 6500-year-old voices recorded in pottery!
>>
>>
>>
>>Description from The Raw Feed (http://www.therawfeed.com):
>>
>>'Belgian researchers have been able to use computer scans of the grooves
in
>>6,500-year-old pottery to extract sounds -- including talking and laughter
>>-- made by the vibrations of the tools used to make the pottery.'
>>
>>Here's the link to the video:
>>http://www.zalea.org/article.php3?id_article=496
>>
>>It's only available in French right now, but even if you don't speak
French
>>I think you can get the general gist and hear the 'playback'!
>>
>>Mike
>>
>>
>>Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
>> General Linguistics
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>-----------------------------------------------------------
>>LINGUIST List: Vol-17-552

Josh Beck
Program Manager & Student Affairs Administrator
Center for Latin American Studies
University of Chicago
5848 South University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
tel. (773) 702-8420
fax (773) 702-1755
http://clas.uchicago.edu 


		
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