The Prehistory of Music: Human Evolution, Archaeology, and the Origins of Musicality

by Iain Morley

Music is possessed by all human cultures, and archaeological evidence for musical activities pre-dates even the earliest-known cave art. Music has been the subject of keen investigation across a great diversity of fields, from neuroscience and psychology to ethnography, archaeology, and its own dedicated field, musicology. Despite the great contributions that these studies have made towards understanding musical behaviours, much remains mysterious about this ubiquitous human phenomenon - not least, its origins.
In a ground-breaking study, this volume brings together evidence from these fields, and more, in investigating the evolutionary origins of our musical abilities, the nature of music, and the earliest archaeological evidence for musical activities amongst our ancestors. Seeking to understand the true relationship between our unique musical capabilities and the development of the remarkable social, emotional, and communicative abilities of our species, it will be essential reading for anyone interested in music and human physical and cultural evolution.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Music, Prehistory, Science

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lucien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book on a very necessary topic.
Although I normally don't comment, I'll make a short comment for this book, which is overall great. The only tiny little thing is I was expecting it to have a little more information on prehistory as itself; half the book focuses more on evolutionary issues like brain connections & studies to back up his thesis, which is very necessary for an academic-cut text, and it's a thorough research that's definitely foundation for future works. It's only a little...stressful (?) when you get this book hoping for it to be 100% divulgation instead of academic, but that's my own fault for having expectations to begin with.

However, it's still written in such a way that although the topic is 100% academic, it's still very accessible for the general public (including non-native-speakers as was my case).

Overall, Morley was very thorough, very careful, and very open-minded about where he could be making dangerous assumptions, where his limitations were and other experts needed to take up on the matter, etc. It's not always you stumble upon an academic writer that doesn't believe they have the absolute truth (even less in a man, statistically speaking) and you get the feeling that they were genuinely into it for the sake of knowledge and science themselves.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a tour de force. Iain Morley was a lecturer and researcher at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Oxford University. In The Prehistory of Music he assembled an amazing range of information on paleontology, neurology, physiology and music-related issues to provide an in-depth look at how musicality and music became part of the human world.

This is an academic book – closely reasoned and fully supported with evidence – but it is also very readable. Dr. Morley is careful to note and give fair due to all perspectives in an area which is very complicated and, at times, surprisingly contentious. His thoroughness and care enable the reader to make their own assessment of the arguments – an opportunity which is very welcome in this field where theories can be speculative and subtle at times.

Anyone with an interest in the long view of music – what is it and how and when did it become part of the human world – should find this book of interest. Unfortunately, Dr. Morley died in 2021 in his mid-forties, so we will not get to see further work from this brilliant mind.