Putting Ancient Sounds on Exhibit

The Case of two Mesoamerican Bone Rasps at the Pigorini Museum, Rome

Abstract

Two scraped idiophones made of human bones from ancient Mesoamerica (omichicahuaztli) are

currently on exhibit at the Museo delle Civiltà – museo preistorico etnografico “Luigi Pigorini” in

Rome. An interdisciplinary project was carried out to detect the properties of the bones and the

sound characteristics of the instruments. The cultural biographies of the instruments were recon-

structed beginning with the social role of these artefacts in the American indigenous cultural con-

text, to the paths that brought them to Italy. This case study allows us to make some considerations

about the materiality of ancient sound artefacts within the western museum context, specifically

highlighting how visitors can perceive sound coming from distant cultural backgrounds and the

ways instruments can be studied and mediated to the contemporary Italian public. This case study

is a clear example of the benefits of incorporating an anthropological perspective on archaeological

heritage.