TVSM · Teotihuacan Virtual Sound Map: Exploring the Sonic Sphere of the City of the Gods, Mexico
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-07-01 → 2022-09-29
- EU contribution
- €337,401
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
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Results in brief
Teotihuacan Virtual Sound Map: Exploring the Sonic Sphere of the City of the Gods, Mexico
Since its decline around 750 CE, the UNESCO world heritage site of Teotihuacan in the highlands of central Mexico remained silent, its pyramids and temple structures covered by earth and vegetation for a very long time. The noises of everyday life ceased, the music was gone. But was it all lost forever? During the last 130 years, the period of extensive archaeological research of the ancient city, a great amount of sonic artefacts was unearthed all over the site and many mural paintings belonging to temple and palace structures were uncovered, bearing a rich iconography showing musical instruments, song, and dance. Remarkably, many of these finds were not recognized as a valuable source of research on past life at Teotihuacan, and the topic of music had drawn virtually no scientific attention. Until the TVSM, the array of musical instruments produced was widely unknown, including their individual construction techniques, morphology and design, but also how they sounded, when and for what purposes they were employed, and how their sounds interacted within the architecture of the urban setting. The TVSM was designed to fill this lack of research, and bring back the sounds of the ancient city to the many visitors of the site as well as to the general public worldwide, contributing to a much better understanding of the civilization of Teotihuacan. For a single researcher, this was a highly ambitious, but ultimately more than successful attempt. Through the application of a multidisciplinary scientific-artistic approach, it was possible to break the silence of the pyramids and monuments of the site, contributing to a much deeper comprehension of the life of this pre-Columbian culture. The challenging project demonstrated that aspects of the intangible cultural heritage of a past society could still be recovered, highlighting seems-to be-lost achievements of humanity.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The pre-Columbian site of Teotihuacan in the highlands of central Mexico has captured the public imagination for centuries. For the Aztecs, it was the city of the gods and birthplace of humankind. Archaeological excavations of the UNESCO World Heritage site revealed that the unearthed relics are the cultural remains of a powerful society, dominating the period of Classic Mesoamerica during the first half of the first millennium CE. However, many aspects of this culture are still not well understood, including the role that sound and music played in its urban environment. With the aid of new technologies in geo-referenced sound mapping and multimedia applications, the ER will recreate and play the musical instruments of Teotihuacan, test their sounds both under laboratorial conditions and on-site in different architectural settings, and create a virtual sound-map of the city on the basis of the results. This research will contribute to a better understanding of the site and the sonic interaction with it of its inhabitants and, as will significantly develop the global field of archaeoacoustical research. The Teotihuacan Virtual Sound Map will create a model for exhibiting sound in the actual environment of ancient sites, which can also be applied to other settings. Through this project the ER will develop skills in field and studio/anechoic chamber recording, acoustic analysis, architectural and environmental acoustics, multimedia applications and virtual exhibition making. The ER will conduct field work in 5 distinct urban settings of Teotihuacan with 10 recording positions, using 15 replicas of Teotihuacan musical instruments; create an app with the virtual sound map of the site; create a website with the interactive sound map; create a print version of the map in form of a leaflet; give 2 workshops at the host organization, lecture at 2 international conferences and 2 national meetings; organize 1 international conference; and publish 2 research.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD · HUDDERSFIELDCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union