The enigma of pre-Columbian whistling water jars
October 23, 2016 8:55 AM   Subscribe

Peruvian shamanic whistling vessels. Being made out of clay archaeologists first thought these beautiful, ceramic sculptures were water bottles or toys until an amateur anthropologist explored their ritual use. One can just blow into the vessel but when water is added in one of the chambers and the vessel is rocked back and forth the shifting air creates an interesting sound pattern.

Depending on the construction (pdf) different animal sounds can be imitated.

Designed to work when water is introduced inside them, partially filling the chambers. As the water is poured back and forth, the displaced air is forced to move across a fipple, causing the jar to whistle.

Pre-Columbian musical instruments based on Helmholtz resonators.

A short documentary in Spanish about the tens of thousands of whistling vessels, many of them erotic, in the Larco Museum in Peru.

The ancient Vicús and Moche culture in Peru, where these ceramic musical instruments were created.

The Spanish term for them is whistling vessel, "Huaco Silbador".

Whistling is a traditional part of Peruvian shamans' chanting.

Each has a "blind spout" in the form of a human head, bird, or other animal. When liquid is tipped from the chamber with the open spout to the chamber with the blind spout, air is forced out of a hole behind the blind spout, producing a whistle. As the water level changes, so does the tone.

A synopsis of the book by the amateur anthropologist, Daniel K Statnekov, who discovered in the 1970s and 80s how the whistling vessels worked with water. Animated Earth. A Story of Peruvian Whistles & Transformation

FaceBook link to video of the whistling vessels.
posted by nickyskye (10 comments total) 81 users marked this as a favorite
 
You learn something new every day. Sunday... check. Very cool, nickyskye.
posted by pixlboi at 9:45 AM on October 23, 2016


Hell yeah, erotic whistling jars.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:50 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


There's a phenomenon associated with Peruvian whistling vessels different from the above accounts, as far as I can tell. I can't find a link to it, so I can't find the correct terminology for the psycho-acoustical results of this practice, but this is what if feels like (I'm resurrecting a memory from 1980 here).

Five of us blew into five of these things. Each produced a high whistle, of slightly different pitches. What happened was that I heard a wavering pitch an octave or two below the whistling sounds, and it felt like it was coming from inside of my brain. Which it was, really, because this has nothing to do with overtones, which are acoustical properties contributing to an instruments timbre (a bassoon's tone has more prominent overtones than the purer more sine-wave sound of a flute). Overtones are also the key to throat singing, previously on Metafilter, I'm sure.

But this is not a machine-measureable phenomenon, which is why they can be mind-altering: the tone brings you inside. This is also not the same as binaural beats, a New Age/internet fad. I want to say "undertones," but that's not the scientific term for this.
posted by kozad at 9:53 AM on October 23, 2016 [6 favorites]


This is the coolest thing I have seen in about a month.
posted by bukvich at 9:57 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


> Five of us blew into five of these things. Each produced a high whistle, of slightly different pitches. What happened was that I heard a wavering pitch an octave or two below the whistling sounds

I believe that what you are describing is known as "difference tones" or sometimes as "subjective tones". This is also the basis of what brass players commonly call "multiphonics".

More references: 1 (explanation written with flutists in mind--this is a common phenomenon flute ensembles try to take advantage of), 2 (including sound examples you can play online)
posted by flug at 10:27 AM on October 23, 2016 [8 favorites]


These Peruvian Whistling Vessels sure sound a lot better than the Aztec Death Whistle
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 12:03 PM on October 23, 2016 [6 favorites]


Oh my goodness, that first video! The wolf jar sounds like a wolf and the birds like birds. Neat post!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:31 PM on October 23, 2016


Just found out the name of the seller in the first video is Jose Vitancio Umeres. Apparently, he's a vendor who works in the museum in Cuzco, Peru. He's been researching these instruments for 12 years. If you google his name, there are many more videos of whistling vessels.
posted by nickyskye at 8:15 PM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


"Animated Earth: A Story of Peruvian Whistles and Transformation" is written as an entertaining tale - I'm enjoying reading it. Thank you for the link.
posted by Speculatist at 4:58 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Literally amazing. How did they even figure that out? Man, I wish so much of their history wasn't destroyed by the Spanish - I love how different S American cultures (and I assume minds) were so different than W European minds.
posted by evening at 4:47 PM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


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