http://www.jamesphogan.com/bb/content/032606.shtml
The basic story (later proven to be false) is that by a strange coincidence, a potter in ancient Pompeii recorded sound into the surface of a pot he was turning. He was using a needle to shape the surface, and somehow the needle recorded the sound waves that struck it.
The (false) story goes on to explain that this sound was extracted by archaeologists.
If this were true--if such accidental recordings actually existed--what a story!!! Voices more than two thousand years dead, resurrected...it makes the mind whirl!
Unfortunately, a beautiful story was once again ruined by an ugly reality.