The RIMAnt project (2019-) involves the systematic collection, cataloguing, documentation and analysis of the archaeological remains of those objects that the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean, from the 3rd millennium BC to the 4th century AD, used as musical instruments. The result of this project will be a unique corpus accessible online.
Despite their importance, both for the number and the quality of the information they can provide, the archaeological remains of musical instruments have never been the subject of a specific analytical corpus. Scattered in many museums (Mediterranean area, Europe, North America), they are often poorly identified, or even not published due to lack of knowledge. The Repertorium Musicorum Instrumentorum Antiquorum will allow serial and typological studies of the instruments with a view to more reliable dating or even identification of their territory of origin. The three cultural areas considered so far by the project, Egyptian, Greek and Roman, have been in contact during their history: RIMAnt will contribute to a better understanding of both the way in which the musical instruments of the populations of those places were constituted and of the passages and contaminations of the different instruments between the cultures.
Musical instruments are important historical testimonies that inform us about religious beliefs (objects of worship and votive deposits in temples and tombs), about the status of the individuals who practised the profession of musician, but also about theirsymbolic use as a distinctive element of power or as a social marker. Their manufacture also provides us with information on ancient craftsmanship, the origin of the materials used and their market value. The data collected in RIMAnt will allow researchers to study the instruments both from the point of view of their organological characteristics and their historical and cultural significance. It will also help to identify objects in museum deposits or to compare them with those from recent excavations.
The project was funded with €11.000 for the years 2021-22 by the CNRS, IEA-International Emerging Actions, 2020, N° Sistème : 303536 Référence : Campagne : IEA 2020
The project avails itself of the collaboration of the Musical Archaeology Teaching Laboratory (Prof. D. Restani) of the LM in Beni Archeologici Artistici e del Paesaggio and of the equipment and personnel of the Music Laboratory.
Scientific Board: Daniela Castaldo (Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali), Sibylle Emerit (CNRS, HiSoMA, Lyon), Sylvain Perrot, EfA, CR CNRS Strasbourg, UMR Archimède), Donatella Restani (Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni culturali), Christophe Vendries (Université Rennes 2), Alexandre Vincent (EfR, MCF, Université de Poitiers, IUF).
Other contributors: Anna Chiara Fariselli (Università di Bologna), Paola Dessì (Università di Padova),
Paolo Bonora (Università di Bologna), Giovanna Casali (Università di Padova), Šarūnas Šavėla (Università di Bologna – University of Vilnius).