5 ms·

Humans have also used drums, often wooden slit gongs, for long-distance communication, relaying the message every few kilometers. Although talking drums are no

by kragen 1y ago

Humans have also used drums, often wooden slit gongs, for long-distance communication, relaying the message every few kilometers. Although talking drums are no longer a leading communications technology (telephone lines, radio, and fiber optics carry farther and have higher bandwidth) they are still in traditional and ritual use, much like handwriting, candles, IRC servers, and <table> layout. The West African versions of this form of communication are the best known, but it has been used in many parts of the world. Transposed into the world of radio, this approach is known as "ultrawideband" or "time domain radio". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum https://time.com/archive/6771186/science-drum-telegraphy/ https://time.com/archive/6771186/science-drum-telegraphy/ 01942: "Any pulp writer worth his salt knows that when his locale is darkest Africa he can’t use too many drums. In a good standard plot, talking drums warn fierce natives of the unsuspecting white man’s approach while the reader shudders. Last week in Natural History Dr. Albert Irwin Good, who understands Bulu and related African dialects, published the first popular article on the linguistics of drums, the complicated telegraphy whereby African drummers talk across the jungle." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1945.11659257 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1945.11... 01945: Drum-signaling in a West African Tribe, by George Herzog. "The use of musical instruments for purposes of signaling is very widespread, and definite systems of communication are or were based on it in native Africa, Middle and South America, and the Pacific. The African systems are the most elaborate and often serve for free conversation; their existence is well known to the anthropologist and the traveler, hut they have been little investigated from the linguistic point of view, and still less in their social setting." https://pen.org/drums-that-talk/ https://pen.org/drums-that-talk/ (Gleick?) "For a long time Europeans in sub-Saharan Africa had no idea. In fact they had no idea that the drums conveyed information at all. In their own cultures, in special cases a drum could be an instrument of signaling, along with the bugle and the bell, used to transmit a small set of messages: attack; retreat; come to church. But they could not conceive of talking drums. (...) That result was a technology much sought in Europe: long-distance communication faster than any traveler on foot or horseback. Through the still night air over a river, the thump of the drum could carry six or seven miles. Relayed from village to village, messages could rumble a hundred miles or more in a matter of an hour." https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/50p1b7/til_that_talking_drums_were_used_in_africa_for/ https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/50p1b7/til_t... "I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Nigeria and as a result of learning to play the drums I happened to pick up the talking drums as well and even though my spoken Yoruba is absolutely horrendous now (I can still understand), I can still speak Yoruba with the talking drums." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT3tIJzAkcc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT3tIJzAkcc a short message with a transcription

Alive-in-2025 1y ago
Wow, those are very interesting references. Also the 5 digit years are a little ahead of its time and interesting too. Could you be a time traveler?
- filoeleven 1y ago
  It's a year-numbering style promoted by the Long Now foundation. Always seemed a bit silly and distracting to me.
pvg 1y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOc6hXMDhc&t=86s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOc6hXMDhc&t=86s
calibas 1y ago
They also encoded messages, so they had a high-speed communications network that used cryptography. In essence, it was an early version of the internet. I've noticed a bit of resistance in Western cultures when I bring this up. People tend to think of Africa as "primitive", and there's some cognitive dissonance when you realize Africa had the world's most sophisticated communications system. I'm not making this claim lightly either. They had a start/end signals, a "header" with an address, and a message payload, repeated for error-correction. There was also a whole routing and QoS system, albeit done manually.
- kragen 1y ago
  Yes, the talking drums are attested in Africa from the 18th century, before electrical communication of any kind. Also, though, remember that the second writing system in the world originated in Africa 5000 years ago—older than the Olmec, older than oracle bones, probably older than the khipu. What were Western cultures doing at the time? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnelbeaker_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnelbeaker_culture: > The TRB introduced farming and husbandry as major food sources to the pottery-using hunter-gatherers north of this line. (...) Although they were largely of Early European Farmer (EEF) descent, people of the Funnelbeaker culture had a relatively high amount of hunter-gatherer admixture, particularly in Scandinavia, suggesting that hunter-gatherer populations were partially incorporated into it during its expansion into this region.[7] People of the Funnelbeaker culture often had between 30% and 50% hunter-gatherer ancestry depending on the region. (...) In the early 3rd millennium BCE, the Corded Ware culture appeared in Northern Europe. Its peoples were of marked steppe-related ancestry and traced their origins in cultures further east. This period is distinguished by the construction of numerous defensive palisades in Funnelbeaker territory, which may be a sign of violent conflict between the Funnelbeakers, Corded Ware, and Pitted Ware.[13] By 2650 BCE, the Funnelbeaker culture had been replaced by the Corded Ware culture. (...) > In Frydenlund, Funen, Denmark, the grinding stones were used to grind wild plants only. In Oldenburg, Germany, grain was processed. In Frydenlund, the absence of cereal grinding combined and an abundance of carbonised cereals from soil samples indicates that probably grain was processed to a porridge-like meal.[18] In Oldenburg, in contrast, bread (possible flat bread) was produced in addition to porridge.[20][16] (...) > The Funnel Beaker Culture is associated with skilfully crafted objects such as flint axes or battle axes. > At Flintbek in northern Germany cart tracks dating from c. 3400 BCE were discovered underneath a megalithic long barrow. This is the earliest known direct evidence for wheeled vehicles in the world (i.e. not models or images).[25][26][27][28] Meanwhile, in Africa: > In a 2013 study based on radiocarbon dates, the accession of Hor-Aha, the second king of the First Dynasty, was placed between 3111 and 3045 BC with 68% confidence, and between 3218 and 3035 with 95% confidence.[3] The same study placed the accession of Den, the sixth king of the dynasty, between 2928 and 2911 BC with 68% confidence,[3] although a 2023 radiocarbon analysis placed Den's accession potentially earlier, between 3011 and 2921, within a broader window of 3104 to 2913.[4] (...) > Information about this dynasty is derived from a few monuments and other objects bearing royal names, the most important being the Narmer Palette and Narmer Macehead, as well as Den and Qa'a king lists.[5][6][7] No detailed records of the first two dynasties have survived, except for the terse lists on the Palermo Stone. (...) Egyptian hieroglyphs were fully developed by then, and their shapes would be used with little change for more than three thousand years. No wheels, though; those were probably an Indo-European invention. I think it's probably a mistake to try to make general statements about all of Africa. The majority of human cultural and genetic diversity is found in Africa, so generalizations about Africans are somewhat similar to generalizations about non-elephant mammals.

by kragen 1y ago

Alive-in-2025 1y ago

Wow, those are very interesting references. Also the 5 digit years are a little ahead of its time and interesting too. Could you be a time traveler?

filoeleven 1y ago
It's a year-numbering style promoted by the Long Now foundation. Always seemed a bit silly and distracting to me.

pvg 1y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOc6hXMDhc&t=86s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOc6hXMDhc&t=86s

calibas 1y ago

They also encoded messages, so they had a high-speed communications network that used cryptography. In essence, it was an early version of the internet. I've noticed a bit of resistance in Western cultures when I bring this up. People tend to think of Africa as "primitive", and there's some cognitive dissonance when you realize Africa had the world's most sophisticated communications system. I'm not making this claim lightly either. They had a start/end signals, a "header" with an address, and a message payload, repeated for error-correction. There was also a whole routing and QoS system, albeit done manually.

kragen 1y ago
Yes, the talking drums are attested in Africa from the 18th century, before electrical communication of any kind. Also, though, remember that the second writing system in the world originated in Africa 5000 years ago—older than the Olmec, older than oracle bones, probably older than the khipu. What were Western cultures doing at the time? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnelbeaker_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnelbeaker_culture: > The TRB introduced farming and husbandry as major food sources to the pottery-using hunter-gatherers north of this line. (...) Although they were largely of Early European Farmer (EEF) descent, people of the Funnelbeaker culture had a relatively high amount of hunter-gatherer admixture, particularly in Scandinavia, suggesting that hunter-gatherer populations were partially incorporated into it during its expansion into this region.[7] People of the Funnelbeaker culture often had between 30% and 50% hunter-gatherer ancestry depending on the region. (...) In the early 3rd millennium BCE, the Corded Ware culture appeared in Northern Europe. Its peoples were of marked steppe-related ancestry and traced their origins in cultures further east. This period is distinguished by the construction of numerous defensive palisades in Funnelbeaker territory, which may be a sign of violent conflict between the Funnelbeakers, Corded Ware, and Pitted Ware.[13] By 2650 BCE, the Funnelbeaker culture had been replaced by the Corded Ware culture. (...) > In Frydenlund, Funen, Denmark, the grinding stones were used to grind wild plants only. In Oldenburg, Germany, grain was processed. In Frydenlund, the absence of cereal grinding combined and an abundance of carbonised cereals from soil samples indicates that probably grain was processed to a porridge-like meal.[18] In Oldenburg, in contrast, bread (possible flat bread) was produced in addition to porridge.[20][16] (...) > The Funnel Beaker Culture is associated with skilfully crafted objects such as flint axes or battle axes. > At Flintbek in northern Germany cart tracks dating from c. 3400 BCE were discovered underneath a megalithic long barrow. This is the earliest known direct evidence for wheeled vehicles in the world (i.e. not models or images).[25][26][27][28] Meanwhile, in Africa: > In a 2013 study based on radiocarbon dates, the accession of Hor-Aha, the second king of the First Dynasty, was placed between 3111 and 3045 BC with 68% confidence, and between 3218 and 3035 with 95% confidence.[3] The same study placed the accession of Den, the sixth king of the dynasty, between 2928 and 2911 BC with 68% confidence,[3] although a 2023 radiocarbon analysis placed Den's accession potentially earlier, between 3011 and 2921, within a broader window of 3104 to 2913.[4] (...) > Information about this dynasty is derived from a few monuments and other objects bearing royal names, the most important being the Narmer Palette and Narmer Macehead, as well as Den and Qa'a king lists.[5][6][7] No detailed records of the first two dynasties have survived, except for the terse lists on the Palermo Stone. (...) Egyptian hieroglyphs were fully developed by then, and their shapes would be used with little change for more than three thousand years. No wheels, though; those were probably an Indo-European invention. I think it's probably a mistake to try to make general statements about all of Africa. The majority of human cultural and genetic diversity is found in Africa, so generalizations about Africans are somewhat similar to generalizations about non-elephant mammals.