Sounds of Etruria: aural characteristics of the Tomba dell'Orco, Tarquinia

Title

Sounds of Etruria: aural characteristics of the Tomba dell'Orco, Tarquinia

Creator(s)

Ortoleva, Jacqueline K.

Date

2021

Is Part Of

Antiquity

Volume

95

Issue

383

Pages

1179-1194

Language

eng

ISSN

0003-598X, 1745-1744

Short Title

Sounds of Etruria

DOI

https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.111

URI

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/sounds-of-etruria-aural-characteristics-of-the-tomba-dellorco-tarquinia/C1AFF4979625901489F1B097376137B7

Zotero BiDiAr

https://www.zotero.org/groups/5293298/bidiar/items/6UXZJNYB/item-list

Abstract

, This article presents the results of an archaeoacoustic analysis conducted inside the three chambers of the fourth-century BC Etruscan painted tomb of Tomba dell'Orco at Tarquinia. Using digital sound samples and an acoustic recording protocol, the study demonstrates how, in some areas of the tomb, low-frequency sounds, such as drumming and chanting, produce lengthy reverberation times. These effects may have been associated with the natural rumble of thunder, which played a significant role in Etruscan society, as indicated in secondary literary sources and material culture. The study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the Etruscan tomb space, while identifying new avenues of research in pre-Roman and other ancient Mediterranean funerary contexts.

Tag

Italy

funerary archaeology

archaeoacoustics

sound

Etruscan tomb

thunder

cited by

The necropolis as a landscape of power: some reflections