Josh Kumbani (Wits) will be delivering a seminar titled "Music archaeology in southern Africa: latecomer on the agenda?" and it is based on his discovery of a woer-woer in Stone Age layers at Klasies River Mouth. The talk will be in the UP Humanities Building, 8-18 from 13:30 to 14:30 on 4 September 2019.

Please RSVP to tim.forssman@up.ac.za in order to get an access pin to campus.

Abstract:

Music archaeology has not received much attention in southern Africa. However, music seems to have played a major role in the socio-cultural aspects of the people of the past. Archaeologically, there are very few music-related artefacts but it should be acknowledged that this evidence has at least made it possible for new questions to be asked about the music of the past from an archaeological perspective. Evidence of sound-producing instruments or music-related artefacts has been recovered from the Later Stone Age contexts, Iron Age contexts and Historical contexts. Ethnographical records have also provided a valuable source of information on the music of the past and this information helps in providing some possible interpretations of some archaeological artefacts that could have been used in the sound production or for musical purposes in the past.