This room presents the research of the Argentine archaeomusicologist Mónica Gudemos, who collaborated from 2016 to 2021 with MAPI in the analysis and interpretation of the present set of instruments, belonging to our collection.

We observe a total of a series of aerophones, that is, wind instruments, manufactured by different indigenous cultures that occupied in the past the coast of the current territory of Ecuador.

Researcher Gudemos is a reference in the field of archaeomusicology. Archaeomusicology is the science that studies the musical manifestations of prehistoric and historic cultures. It is an interdisciplinary field that combines methods from archaeology, musicology and ethnography, among others, to reconstruct and understand the musical practices of past societies.

The study of these pieces was possible thanks to the collaboration of institutions such as the Maciel Hospital and the High Technology Center of Uruguay, which provided technology and personnel specialized in tomography, X-rays and diagnostic imaging, key to the comprehensive study and contextualization of the pieces in the collection.

The instruments studied date from approximately 2500 to 1500 years ago. Its production is associated with various societies of present-day Ecuador, including cultures such as Guangala, Bahía, Jama-Coaque and Tumaco-La Tolita. These peoples achieved a significant social and political development, organizing themselves into lordships or chiefdoms with a high degree of social differentiation and stratification. In addition, these societies stood out for their strong specialization in the manufacture of musical instruments and for developing intense commercial exchanges.

Some of the studied aerophones are ornithomorphic whistles, that is to say, with bird figures. These whistles consist of two main elements: the body and the head of the bird. The body, which acts as an air circulation chamber, has a mouth on the tail through which air is blown in.

The air passes through the circulation chamber until it reaches the head through an insufflation channel (neck). The head functions as a resonance chamber, allowing air to escape through holes and produce sound. In addition, decorative elements, such as the bird’s feet, are carefully added to complete the piece.

The study of the pieces determined, however, that not all of the pieces had acoustic functionality. Some of them are simply figures that reproduce the shape of an ornithomorphic whistle, and others lost their functionality due to sedimentation inside the instrument.