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The Conversation
Jacqueline Ortoleva, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Cognitive Archaeology and Archaeoacoustics, University of Oxford

Confronting demons: how acoustic and AI technology brought ancient Etruscan tombs back to life

A demonic figure painted on the wall of the Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri (Tomb of the Blue Demons, 420-410BC). Sailko via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-ND

Although it not always obvious, sound guides how we experience the world around us. And the latest archaeoacoustic techniques show that even the world’s earliest architects understood this.

The ancient pre-Roman society of Etruria in central Italy, for example, embedded sound throughout its culture, using ritual calendars dedicated to recognising key noises of nature, such as thunder. They were also early pioneers of musical instruments in the southern Mediterranean region.

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