[ARSCLIST] (using pottery clay for sound recording?) Re: Sound recordings in 2000 year old pottery...

[Jon Noring <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steven wrote:
> "Jon Noring" <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>

>> Oh well, I guess the joke's on me, then!
>> 
>> <embarassed/>

> It's probably just as well...we're already having trouble trying to
> create a digital archive for three million (give or take) 78's...
> imagine adding several million pieces of pottery...!
>
> Besides, potters didn't keep tracks of matrix numbers and takes...

<laugh/>

As I thought about it more, there are several factors necessary to
come into alignment for sound to be fixed to a recoverable level on
pottery. Here's a few that first come to mind:

1) The process must include a tool to cut the groove on the pottery.
2) The ambient sound must somehow couple with the tool to a high
   enough level (e.g., the vibrational amplitude must be greater than
   the size of particles used in the clay.)
3) The groove must have various characteristics.
4) The firing must not destroy the embedded audio information.
etc.

If there's even a chance that some pottery could contain recoverable
audio information, that chance may be very small -- only a few
artifacts may contain recoverable sound.

The historical information that the Chinese might have invented the
Edison phonograph first over 4000 years ago is certainly intriguing.
I wonder if they used pottery clay to do this?

Which brings up a merger of the above discussion. Has anyone used
pottery clay for sound recording, then fired the clay to fix the
recording? (Today one would not use clay but a time-hardening plastic
of some sort.)

Jon