Dude, like woah

This short vid clip is pretty amazing. If you don't speak French the guy is discussing how scientists have been able to reconstruct sounds 'recorded' in pottery as it was made in Central American and other ancient societies BC. Basically these pots were turned on wheels and scratched with sticks that picked up noises and conversations and transferred these frequencies to the surface of the pots as they were made. Firing preserved these sounds for posterity! You can even hear a 10-second clip re-engineered from a Pompeii vase if you can sit through le blah-blah for just a minute or two--sounds like muffled Latin conversation and chuckling!

Here's hoping we can at last experience the music of ancient cultures! There may have been singin' and strummin' going on as some of these jugs were made.

[Link via Fortean Times, of course!]

UPDATE: Dammit, I knew this 'sounded' too good to be true. Turns out it's a hoax. The whole presentation struck me as Graham Chapman-esque initially--that was a valid instinct.