Music and Sound in Ancient Europe: Contributions from the European Music Archaeology Project

Until not long ago, music-archaeological research has concentrated on smaller cultural areas or time spans. Only recently has the available information been enabling a more global perspective on past musics to be achieved, in which cultural interrelations become apparent, and can sometimes be traced across vast spatial, temporal and cultural distances.

Drawing on several study groups established in the early 1980s, an international team of archaeologists, musicologists, instrument makers, musicians, composers, sound designers, film-makers and computer artists formed in 2010 to take the challenge of exploring 40,000 years of European music from different perspectives. In the resulting European Music Archaeology Project (EMAP), ten institutions from seven countries collaborated with numerous associated partners from 2013 to 2018, supported by the cultural programme of the European Commission.

The project focused on Europe’s ancient cultural roots from an unusual perspective, combining musical, scientific and sensorial aspects. Musical instruments of the European past were explored with special reference to the exchange of musical knowledge between diverse cultures, culminating in the powerful experience of a travelling multimedia exhibition called ARCHAEOMUSICA – The Sounds and Music of Ancient Europe.