A Ritual Soundscape
Humans learn to control sound for rituals with impressive monuments. David Hendy hears bizarre effects while beating a drum in Orkney.
Orkney's Neolithic sites feel like theatre stages, encouraging us to move through them in unfamiliar ways. If the people noticed striking sound effects, they must have been tempted to exploit them. But exploit them how, exactly?
Were these the kind of places where our ancestors came to make a spectacular din - or places where they came in search of silence and sensory deprivation?
Professor David Hendy of the University of Sussex explores the ritualistic use of sound.
30-part series made in collaboration with the British Library Sound Archive.
Producer: Matt Thompson.
A Rockethouse production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Clip
-
![]()
Echoes in a Neolithic stone circle
Duration: 01:01
Broadcasts
Thu 21 Mar 2013 13:45Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4- Thu 22 Oct 2015 14:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Fri 23 Oct 2015 02:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Thu 23 May 2019 14:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Fri 24 May 2019 02:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
Noise retold by Matthew Herbert
The head of the New Radiophonic Workshop retells the Noise series using only the sounds.