Acoustic study of Dendara's temple
The CNRS and the IFAO (French Institute of Oriental Archaeology) have undertaken, in collaboration with IRCAM, the archaeo-acoustic study of the main temple of Dendara (project directed by Sibylle Emerit, researcher in the CNRS HiSOMA laboratory and former member of the IFAO). Located in Upper Egypt, and built between the end of the Ptolemaic period and the beginning of the Roman period, this temple is dedicated to Hathor, goddess of music, love, and inebriation.
Epigraphic and iconographic studies attest to the importance of sound activity in this temple, whether through textual references or through the omnipresence of representations of deities or dancers and musicians worshipping
Hathor through their songs and instrumental manifestations (tambourines, harps, sistra lutes) that adorn the walls and columns of various spaces.
This is the first time that such a study—at the crossroads of anthropology, archaeology, architecture, music, and acoustics—has been devoted to an Egyptian temple. At stake is the understanding of how the ancients perceived and interpreted sound phenomena through the analysis of the vocabulary dedicated to sounds, through the study of musical instruments and the observation of sites in which rich sound events took place. Architectural studies generally focus on the visual dimension of the built environment and more rarely on its acoustic dimension with the exception of ancient Greek and Roman theaters.
In this project, IRCAM’s mission is to conduct an acoustic characterization of the different spaces of the temple by measuring spatial room impulse responses. These responses, recorded by a high-spatial resolution microphone array (EM32 microphone from MHAcoustics.) will be used later to calibrate a 3D numerical model, currently under development, which will allow to complete the study by considering architectural elements that have now disappeared (doors of the sanctuary and the various chapels, peristyle courtyard).
Acoustic study of the temple of Dendara. Measurement in the naos (below) and the pronaos (right)
IRCAM's Team : Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces