A 3D Digital Approach to the Stylistic and Typo-Technological Study of Small Figurines from Ayia Irini, Cyprus

The thesis aims to develop a 3D digital approach to the stylistic and typo-technological study of coroplastic, focusing on small figurines. The case study to test the method is a sample of terracotta statuettes from an assemblage of approximately 2000 statues and figurines found at the beginning of the 20th century in a rural open-air sanctuary at Ayia Irini (Cyprus) by the archaeologists of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition. The excavators identified continuity of worship at the sanctuary from the Late Cypriot III (circa 1200 BC) to the end of the Cypro-Archaic II period (ca. 475 BC). They attributed the small figurines to the Cypro-Archaic I-II. Although the excavation was one of the first performed through the newly established stratigraphic method, the archaeologists studied the site and its material following a traditional, merely qualitative approach. Theanalysis of the published results identified a classification of the material with no-clear-cut criteria, and their overlap between types highlights ambiguities in creating groups and classes. Similarly, stratigraphic arguments and different opinions among archaeologists highlight the need for revising. Moreover, pastlegislation allowed the excavators to export half of the excavated antiquities, creating a dispersion of the assemblage. Today, the assemblage is still partly exhibited at the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and in four different museums in Sweden. Such a setting prevents to study, analyse and interpret the assemblageholistically. This research proposes a 3D chaîne opératoire methodology to study the collection’s small terracotta figurines, aiming to understand the context’s function and social role as reflected by the classification obtained with the 3D digital approach. The integration proposed in this research of traditional archaeological studies, and computer-assisted investigation based on quantitative criteria, identified and defined with 3D measurements and analytical investigations, is adopted as a solution to the biases of a solely qualitative approach. The 3D geometric analysis of the figurines focuses on the objects’ shape and components, mode of manufacture, level of expertise, specialisation or skills of the craftsman and production techniques. The analysis leads to the creation of classes of artefacts which allow archaeologists to formulate hypotheses on the production process, identify a common production (e.g., same hand, same workshop) and establish a relative chronological sequence. 3D reconstruction of the excavation’s area contributes to the virtual re-unification of the assemblage for its holistic study, the relative chronological dating of the figurines and the interpretation of their social and ritual purposes. The results obtained from the selected sample prove the efficacy of the proposed 3D approach and support the expansion of the analysis to the whole assemblage, and possibly initiate quantitative and systematic studies on Cypriot coroplastic production

La voz y el canto en la antigua Grecia

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Filología Clásica. Fecha de lectura: 15-06-2016Esta tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 15-12-2017La presente tesis doctoral ahonda en los conocimientos vocales de la antigua Grecia a partir de la investigación de los textos que se dedican a tal campo. Hay que distinguir, por lo tanto, dos tipos de apreciación en este aspecto: aquellos textos que hacen menciones a la voz y su uso desde un punto de vista estético y aquellos otros que, sin embargo, especifican cuestiones de índole anatómica, funcional y, ante todo, de carácter teórico musical. Partiendo de tales presupuestos, se estudia la anatomía y fisiología de la voz, especialmente en los textos del corpus aristotelicum, el primer grupo de escritos dedicados a analizar la fisiología y producción de la voz desde un punto de vista novedoso para la época, y de Galeno, autor que supone una inflexión en el modo de aproximarse al conocimiento de los aparatos fonador y respiratorio. El siguiente punto de estudio es la diferenciación que hacen los tratados harmónicos entre los distintos tipos de voces (hablada, cantada y parakatalogé), para pasar, a continuación, a hacer una revisión de las prácticas vocales en la Grecia anterior al período clásico y, con más profundidad, a partir de dicho momento. Se hace especial hincapié en la formación de los cantantes y sus prácticas sobre el escenario, así como de las dificultades vocales que constatan los autores en sus escritos. Por último, se estudian algunas cuestiones que creemos que caracterizan el canto en la antigua Grecia: en primer lugar, se investigan las causas por las que pensamos que el uso del mecanismo suspensor de la voz no estaba adquirido desde un punto de vista técnico e interpretativo; en segundo lugar, se analizan las causas que creemos que llevaron a la desaparición del género enharmónico como práctica musical, dadas las dificultades vocales que entrañaba; y, por ultimo, se trata de dilucidar si se usaba el falsete para interpretar los papeles de las heroínas dramáticasThis doctoral thesis treats the vocal knowledge in ancient Greece from the investigation on the texts about that field. We need, therefore, to distinguish two types of writings on this matter: those that mention voice and its use from an aesthetic point of view and those that, on a different way, treat its functioning, its anatomical configuration and its importance in music theory treatises. Starting from that ground, anatomy and physiology of voice will be studied, mainly in those texts that belong to the so called corpus aristotelicum, the first to analyse the physiology and production of the voice from an innovating point of view in those days, y those attributed to Galenus, author that embodies a turning point in the medical way to face voice and breathing systems. After that, we shall study the differentiation the various music theory texts offer about the diverse types of voice (spoken, sung and parakatalogé), to carry on reviewing the vocal practice in the pre-classical Greece and, in a more thorough way, those during and after that period. We shall stress the importance of being trained as a singer in ancient Greece and their performance on stage, as well as the difficulties the writers witness on their writings. At the end, several questions will be taken in consideration: the causes why we think the suspensory mechanism of the voice was not a common practice then, the causes that took the enharmonic gender to extinction, due to its difficulties for singers, and if some kind of falsetto register was used to perform the drama heroines