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JASA Conference Presentation Review |
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by Daniel K. Stat |
Copyright ©1976 The Acoustical Society |
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From the Program of the 92nd Meeting
Town and Country Hotel
San Diego, California
15-19 November, 1976
Friday, 19 November 1976 - 3:30pm
XX5. Peruvian whistling bottles
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Steven Garrett
Department of Physics
University of California at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90024
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and
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Daniel K. Stat
Museum of Cultural History
University of California at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90024
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Measurements were made of the frequency and intensity of
73 pottery "whistling bottles" encompassing a 2000-year period
from 500 B.C. to 1550 A.D. representing nine pre-Columbian
cultures. We have found the whistles group acoustically by
culture. The bottles are currently regarded by anthropologists
as utilitarian liquid containers with the whistle providing an
amusing method of venting to facilitate the passage of air
during the pouring and filling of liquids. We are suggesting an
alternative interpretation of the bottles as ritual artifacts
specifically produced as whistles. We base this interpretation
on the close physical examination of a large sample and
particularly on the pronounced effect of low frequency difference
tones. If two or more whistles from a single culture are played
simultaneously, difference tones are created within the ear
due to the nonlinear interaction of their high-intensity tones.
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Published by the American Institute of Physics
for the Acoustical Society of America
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