Re: Ancient recordings

[Jeff Duke <jmar@bellsouth.net>]

I believe that it was not the hand, but a piece of straw used for design 
on the sides of pottery. I have heard the recordings on tv, maybe
pbs. They captured the sounds of the marketplace ,etc.

Jeff

Dennis W. Leas wrote:

> Gareth Whittock wrote:
> >
> > Fascinating but how is this a recording.
>
> I'd say it's a recording with a very short self life. :)
>
> > Incidentally I've heard of someone trying to extract audio from Roman
> > pottery.
> > The theory is that as the potter's wheel turned, the hand of the potter
> > slid down the outside of the pot acting as an acoustic pickup. Similar
> > to a wax cylinder. This would harden to produce a recording of the room
> > assuming the more or less constant speed of the potter's wheel ;)
>
> Yes, definitely this idea earns a smiley.  By the same principle, 
>wouldn't a Roman aquaduct
> record the sounds of the countryside (with the bricklayer's hand acting 
>as an acoustic
> pickup)?  ;)
>
> >
> > > THE Mayans may have made the world's first audio recording a 
>thousand years ago. This is the claim of an acoustics engineer who says
> > > the properties of echoes produced by Mayan pyramids suggest they 
>were built to copy the cry of sacred birds.
>
> - Dennis Leas
> --
> dennis@mdbs.com