Ancient Sounds Stored in Pottery?

Ivan Seeking

I am at a complete disadvantage on this one. I have seen this idea toyed with on the X-Files but have no idea if there is any validity to it whatsoever. The basic idea is that as the pottery is made, sounds could translate directly into the pottery due to vibrations acting on the wheel, tools used, etc.

Unknown Country [a highly dubious source IMO]
http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=5153

has linked this French TV blip which seems to confirm that the claim is made, that a real archaeologist has obtained ancient sounds stored in pottery - .
http://www.zalea.org/article.php3?id_article=496

Pengwuino

Ok ok hold on... let me telecharge the video?

I still dont understand what's going on here.

Ivan Seeking

telecharge? Sorry, you lost me.

Is this pengwuin humor again?

Ivan Seeking

Oh, I see it. What does that do?

Pengwuino

ok telecharge is the audio of the video. The one above it is the actual video.

Are they saying that the pottery is acting like a vinyl record???

Ivan Seeking

That's the basic idea - that using modern technology we can now extract the information buried in the clay.

honestrosewater

http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/staf/nov...ed-in-pottery/
says it was an April Fools joke last year. I didn't look at any of the links or video yet. I think it's a neat idea.

pallidin

Any time-variant developing media can potentially record audio influences, BUT, audio signals such as from talking are very low-power, and unlikely to substantively influence a given developing media without a specific, sensitive apparatus to "imprint" the signal.
I see nothing in ancient pottery making, even on a rotaional wheel, that would provide sufficient intervention to "record" ambient pressure waves apart from the artisans finger/tool pressure.
COULD one make a pottery developing experiment that WOULD record ambient sound waves? Sure, but in order to do so one would have to utilize techniques unavailable or unwanted by the early artisans.

Ivan Seeking

Well well, Mr Strieber earns a Brownie point.

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=5155

I wonder if he learned about it here.

However, X-Files doesn't usually create the ideas seen on the show, so it would seem that this idea has been around for at least four or five years.

IIRC, in the show, the words of Jesus were recorded in clay as he called Lazareth to rise from the dead.

zoobyshoe

Is that your way of saying you are the alert reader who informed him it was a hoax?

Ivan Seeking

Nope, wasn't me.

Ivan Seeking

Also, I should have said that I think the X-Files mentioned is what I saw four or five years ago. It would be interesting to find the origin of this concept.

munky99999

ive seen this x-files episode yesturday. and ive seen this done on lots of other shows. CSI included.

I dunno if its true or not.

Bystander

It's been rattling around in the Sci-Fi genre since the fifties, probably long before that --- like, since Edison.

Ivan Seeking

Wow! Well, I guess that shouldn't be surprising in that the basic idea is obvious enough.

honestrosewater

Heehee. I just came across this organizing my blewsies (blog + news + -y). I was planning on looking into this eventually, but it turns out that others already have.

http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_sai...y_recordi.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/langu...es/002875.html

-Job-

Awesome.
[edit] so it's a hoax. French...