Footed drum

A footed drum is a class of membranophone, of Native American and Polynesian origin, characterized by an open area at the bottom of the instrument, held by feet. This open area adds resonance to the drum's sound.

Archaeologists have unearthed 'foot drums' in several southwestern and central-Californian US Native American archaeological sites inhabited, or formally inhabited, by the Miwok, Maidu, Aztec, and Hopi Indian tribes. These drums were often semicircle cross-sectioned hollow logs laid over wood covered 'resonating' pits positioned according to custom in kivas or dance houses. The foot drums were played by stomping on top of the hollow log with the structure's poles used for steadying. ^[1][2][3]

References

1. Densmore, Frances (1939), "Musical Instruments of the Maidu Indians", American Anthropologist, New Series 41 (Jan. - Mar., 1939), p. 113, doi:10.1525/aa.1939.41.1.02a00090
2. Parsons, Elise (1940), "Relations between Ethnology and Archeology in the Southwest", American Anthropologist, New Series 42 (Vol. 5, No. 3 (Jan., 1940)), p. 541, doi:10.1525/aa.1940.42.3.02a00300
3. .Lowie, Robert H. (1938), "The Emergence Hole and the Foot Drum", American Anthropologist, New Series 5 (Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1938)), p. 214

• "534m Membranophones". SIL. Retrieved January 4, 2007.