A concept which refers to background noise, the multiplicity, which is fundamental to our relationships with materiality and our experiences of places. Michel Serres has played upon the connotations of the French ‘noiseuses’ as commotion and ruckus (1994). As commotion and background noise, belles noiseuses are those properties of the material world that are often left behind with coventional forms of documentation. Mediation is about bringing forth those aspects of materiality. Consider that "the corporeality of place extends from the crunch of dried foliage under one’s feet, to the wind rustling the leaves in the nearby carob, to the shrill cry of the cicadas on the olive branch above; these make up the ceaseless and unrelenting background noises of any locale" (Witmore 2004b). For Serres, such belles noiseuses “may well be the ground of our being” (Serres 1994:13). These sounds, these belles noiseuses, are aspects of the material conditions of human life, which are neglected by archaeology.
Such ceramics were once regarded as 'background noise'. Our science has continually developed to address aspects of the material past which were once regarded as irrelevant. Belles noiseuses are those qualities of place which archaeology filters out and as a result leaves behind in those steps between the material world and what is regarded as the archaeological record. Many, such as the accoustics of place, are finding definition and significance.
For more on the concept of belles noiseuses in archaeology refer to: (Witmore 2004b and Witmore 2006b or refer to Auditory archaeology? or the belles noiseuses).
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Posted at May 07/2005 03:30 AM:
Vitor Oliveira Jorge
Univ. of Porto - Prof.
vojorge@clix.pt
Very interesting
