Musician, craftsman and researcher, Pablo Carpintero has become in the last thirty years one of the most notable references in the instrumental research of traditional Galician music. And just a week ago he has reaffirmed himself in his position: he has managed dating the oldest known bagpipe in the world. According to the Carbon-14 test, the instrument in question has between 550 and 600 years.
The bagpipe, an old acquaintance among scholars of traditional music, is named after Xan Tilve de Campañó, which thanks to the collaboration of his granddaughter, Marilé Salgueiro, Carpintero has been able to access it. Nothing less than a 15th century bagpipe. “Imagine if the bagpipe was known in this world that my grandfather, who taught me to play it, already told me about it,” explains Carpintero.
The discovery represents a extraordinary breakthrough for music history: “It allows us to locate the bagpipes chronologically. We can confirm that Asturias does not have bagpipes older than two hundred years or that the south of Galicia, specifically Pontevedra, and the north of Portugal are the regions with the oldest bagpipes in the world”, reflects Carpintero.
The dating model
But although the Carbon-14 method reaffirmed Carpintero’s discovery, it was he, along with UVigo mathematician Iván Area and historian Susana Reboreda, who have developed a new dating model for this type of instrument: “The model is based on the fact that one body wears out when it rubs against another. Therefore, the piper’s fingers wear down the pointer of the bagpipe,” he argues.
From there, these three researchers added the variables that would affect the wear of the wood: the pressure of the hand, the musician’s repertoire, the diameter of the chanter, the time of use… With this information they developed a mathematical model capable of accurately dating the age of the chanters based on their wear. “When we started the model, the results showed that there were 4,500-year-old bagpipes,” continues Carpintero.
The finding seemed so surprising to them that they decided access the Carbon-14 test to confirm in a practical way if the results were reliable. To do this, they sent small pieces of wood from five bagpipes to the radiocarbon test and the result was as expected: the five dates coincided with their new model.
The development of this method is not a minor fact. It supposes not only a revolution in the dating of bagpipes, but also the drastic reduction in the price of this type of tests. If the Carbon-14 method involves at least an investment of 600 euros per sample, the model developed by UVigo barely involves a single investment of one hundred euros: the price of a precision gauge of one hundred euros: “We could say that it is almost zero cost. Just the caliber and the ability to access the bagpipes.”
Right now, this team of researchers is assessing cHow to professionalize the model at an academic level. They have already produced a scientific article that will be published, sooner or later, in a prestigious university journal. In fact, European researchers have already contacted Pablo to request access to the development and to be able to date his bagpipes. In addition, the result of the research will be read in the form of a thesis at the University of Vigo in the spring of next year. Not only that, with a desire for dissemination, Carpintero will publish a book with the most interesting aspects of the discovery of the age of this and other bagpipes that are pillars in the history of Galician music.
Carpintero explains that, apart from the research work, it has been essential to will of dozens of people who have helped them: “Friends who let me know when they find curious bagpipes; museums that give us the opportunity to extract small pieces of wood to do carbon tests… A lot of people without whom it would not have been possible”.