Medieval Clay Drums Recovered in the Portuguese Al Andalus. New Leads and Contributions to Music Archeology (original) (raw)

2023, 12th Symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archaeology

While similar studies have been conducted for the Spanish territory, Music Archaeology concerning the Portuguese Islamic Medieval period is still in an emergent state. In fact, although the Archaeology of Portuguese Al-Andalus has provided invaluable studies relating to musical instruments, an in-depth articulation with Musicology is long due. In this endeavour, the study of archaeologically recovered clay drums is of special significance. It is important to precisely quantify how many clay drums have been found in the Portuguese Al-Andalus, to ascertain their main common characteristics, and to hypothesise what new research lines they open. The archaeological record is sparse but invaluable, a crucial resource for answering these questions. In this paper, apart from the description of the recovered drums, an articulation with coeval written, iconographic, and archaeological sources is essayed. This paper aims to contribute to the historiography of sound and music, and their influence on the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Keywords: al-Andalus, Medieval Musical Instruments, Clay Drums, Music Archaeology, Middle Ages, Heritage.