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What archaeology tells us about the music and sounds made by Africa’s ancestors

What archaeology tells us about the music and sounds made by Africa’s ancestors

JOSHUA KUMBANI, PhD Candidate, University of the Witwatersrand MUSIC has been part and parcel of humanity for a long time. Not every sound is musical, but sound has meaning and sometimes the meaning of sound is specific to its context. But when it comes to archaeology there is scant evidence of music or sound producing artefacts from southern Africa. This is because of poor preservation of the mostly organic materials that were used to manufacture musical instruments. Rock art offers depictions of musical instruments as well as scenes of dancing that can be linked with music performance, but here only…
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