Systems of acoustic resonance in the ancient sites and related brain activity
Paolo Debertolis*, Giancarlo Tirelli**, Fabrizio Monti***
*Chair of Dental Archaeology, Department of Medical science, University of Trieste (Italy)
**Head and Neck Department, Director of Otorhinolaryngology Clinic, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste (Italy)
***Head of Clinical Neurophysiology Unity, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Trieste (Italy)
Summary - Research was carried out in collaboration with the Head and Neck Department and the Clinical Neurophysiological Unit at the University of Trieste (Italy) to assess the effects of resonance phenomena on the human body. We worked with volunteers who underwent examination by EEG while listening to tones between 90Hz and 120Hz, similar to the resonant sounds found at some Neolithic structures in Europe (England, Ireland, Italy, Malta). As in the study by Ian Cook at the University of California (UCLA, 2008), all of our volunteers were subjected to a "comfortable" volume of sound whilst in the absorbing sound room. This is used for audiometric tests at the Otorhinolaryngology Clinic and has has been modified with suitable software and hardware. This type of room is also protected by a Faraday cage to shield from any possible external electromagnetic interference that could affect the results. After two minutes of silence to evaluate the resting brain rhythm, the volunteers were subjected to the tones of 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120Hz arranged in a random way for one minute each. At the end of every cycle they listened to a mantra of the same frequency for a period of two minutes. Technicians examined the EEGs to verify the data collected. They foundthere was a prevalence of frontal areas or occipital (posterior) areas with no predominance of one cerebral hemisphere (left of right) over the other during playing. Each volunteer had a different sensitivity to all the tones without one tone prevailing (i.e. 110Hz), with each exhibiting a strong response to a subjective and personal tone (90Hz, 105Hz, 120Hz …).
This scientific paper was presented at Conference "Archaeoacoustics. The Archaeology of Sound", Malta, February 19-22, 2014
Site of the Conference in Malta.
This paper was included in the volume of Proceedings of the Conference, available in Internet (ISBN-13: 978-1497591264, ISBN-10: 1497591260), pg. 59-65.
This is the original paper from proceedings book.
This is the preliminary paper with coloured images.
The Research for an Archaeoacoustics Standard
Paolo Debertolis*, Slobodan Mizdrak**, Heikki Savolainen***
*Department of Medical Sciences - University of Trieste, Italy
**Demiurg d.o.o., Zagreb, Croatia
***HSS Production, Audiovisual Impressions, Helsinki, Finland
Abstract — Research into archaeoacoustics and physical phenomena in ancient sites is still very much at the developmental stage. Currently there is no practical standard to study this complementary discipline of archaeology. During the three years our group has been studying archaeoacoustics and natural phenomena, we have been able to explain some enigmas of ancient archaeological sites that were not possible to explain in other ways. Following our experience, we spent time in our laboratories developing an archaeoacoustic protocol that can be applied to the investigatation of any archaeological site. Indeed it is important to define a standard at international level so that other researchers can use the same methodology to repeat previous findings.
Proceedings in the Congress “The 2nd Virtual International Conference on Advanced Research in Scientific Areas” (ARSA-2013) Slovakia, December 2 - 6, 2013: 305-310.
Published by: EDIS - Publishing Institution of the University of Zilina, Univerzitná 1, 01026 Žilina, Slovak Republic.
ISSN 1338-9831.
You can find the original paper in English by SBRG here.
Original pages of paper from Proceedings of the Congress ARSA 2013.
Archaeoacoustics analysis and ceremonial customs in an ancient hypogeum
Paolo Debertolis*, Niccolò Bisconti**
*Department of Medical Sciences - University of Trieste
**Department of Archaeology and Art History - University of Siena
Abstract — The archeaoacoustic properties and the historical rituals of two ancient underground hypogea were compared. The first in Malta, is more widely known and researched, the second in Italy, has been studied by SBRG and presents some similarities to the Maltese hypogeum. The results show that archaeoacoustics is an interesting new method for reanalyzing ancient sites, it uses different study parameters to re-discover forgotten technology which operates on the human emotional sphere. The effect on the psyche of ancient people through the acoustic proprieties suggests the builders of these sites had knowledge of this process and probably used it to enhance their rituals.
This scientific paper is published on the issue of October 2013 (Volume 3, Number 10: 803-814) of the scientific journal Sociology Study, ISSN (print) 2159-5526; (online) 2159-5534, USA from David Publishing Editor.
Archaeoacoustics in ancient sites
Paolo Debertolis*, Niccolò Bisconti**
*Department of Medical Sciences - University of Trieste
**Department of Archaeology and Art History - University of Siena
Abstract — Using archaeoacoustics we can analyze ancient sites from another point of view to discover the real purpose of their builders to point out natural phenomena connected with a particular location and the mystic state of visitors. We also present the results from two ancient sites we studied over the last two years in Europe.
Proceedings in Scientific Conference “The 1st International Virtual Conference on Advanced Scientific Results (SCIECONF-2013)",Slovakia, Zilina, June 10 - 14, 2013: 306-310.
Published by: EDIS - Publishing Institution of the University of Zilina, Univerzitná 1, 01026 Žilina, Slovak Republic.
ISBN: 978-80-554-0726-5 and ISSN: 1339-3561.
You can find the original paper in English by SBRG here.
Original Proceedings of SCIECONF 2013 Congress, Section 9: pp. 306-310
Direct link for downloading article from the archive of the Congress: here
Archaeological Dentistry and its relationship with Oral Pathology
Paolo Debertolis1, Niccolò Bisconti2
1Department of Medical Sciences - University of Trieste
2Department of Archaeology and Art History - University of Siena
Summary - The Institution of Italy ran a Course of Dentistry that like in other parts of the world, gave dentists the interdisciplinary skills of medicine and dentistry. Prior to this, legal medical doctors were not given a deep enough knowledge of Odontology (Dental Anthropology) in their training. Today the use of methodologies from Dental Anthropology and Odontology science in archaeology is called Archaeological Dentistry. Archaeological Dentistry is not a science in its own right, but forms part of a multidisciplinary process to resolve a historic problem.
The odontologist make a contribution to archaeology through knowledge of pathologies, food customs, the size of bodies found in archaeological sites whilst caring to resolve the legal case. The bones like teeth “speak” and can reveal many things about their owner. The bones could undergo a lot of decay, but as tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body, teeth are the last elements to decay. The purpose of the odontologist in an archaeological environment is to supply a lot of information to best estimate the people who lived in that archaeological site.
For analysing and dating a site, the archaeologist has a lot of possibilities, for example radiocarbon 14 dating, stratigraphy of digging and historic sources. Further, the archaeologist needs to be aware of the possibility of superimposition of different cultures on the same site. For this reason the help of a medical anthropologist and odontologist can make a substantial contribution when evaluating archaeological sites.
With thanks to the Department of Medical Science at the University of Trieste and with the collaboration of our archaeologists and legal doctors, our research group has begun a diligent study for the resolution of oral pathology cases in bodies found in archaeological sites from Italy and East Europe. This study has begun to describe a new interesting and more specific chapter in the history of medicine through better dental competence. In this paper, we highlight some archaeological and dental cases resolved by our knowledge.
For example during our researches in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 2010-11, working in collaboration with the Museum of Visoko (Zenica-Doboj Canton). We discovered that during the period of the Ottoman Empire domination, people retained their ancient customs of burying their people near stećak, a very ancient monumental stone typical of this region. This fact it is very important because these stones are oriented to the North and not to Mecca as you would find in a normal Muslim cemetery. Using a medical-anthropologic approach, this discovery could change our historic knowledge regarding the religion of this population.
Poster connected to presentation in .jpg format (Italian language)
Proceedings in the Congress “XX° Congresso Nazionale - Collegio dei Docenti di Odontoiatria”, Roma, April 18-20, 2013 (http://www.congressicollegiodocentiodontoiatria.it/)
Publisced by: Collegio dei Docenti di Odontoiatria (Institutional Web Site)
Secretary: fasi s.r.l.,via R. Venuti 73 - 00162 Roma
