Abstract

During the 1980 s, acoustic studies of Upper Palaeolithic imagery in French caves-using the technology then available-suggested a relationship between acoustic response and the location of visual motifs. This paper presents an investigation, using modern acoustic measurement techniques, into such relationships within the caves of La Garma, Las Chimeneas, La Pasiega, El Castillo, and Tito Bustillo in Northern Spain. It addresses methodological issues concerning acoustic measurement at enclosed archaeological sites and outlines a general framework for extraction of acoustic features that may be used to support archaeological hypotheses. The analysis explores possible associations between the position of visual motifs (which may be up to 40 000 yrs old) and localized acoustic responses. Results suggest that motifs, in general, and lines and dots, in particular, are statistically more likely to be found in places where reverberation is moderate and where the low frequency acoustic response has evidence of resonant behavior. The work presented suggests that an association of the location of Palaeolithic motifs with acoustic features is a statistically weak but tenable hypothesis, and that an appreciation of sound could have influenced behavior among Palaeolithic societies of this region.

Highlights

  • Around 40 000 yrs ago, important cultural and artistic innovations appear among the early human societies of Western Europe

  • A statistical association has been established between acoustic response and the positions of Palaeolithic visual motifs found in these caves

  • Our primary conclusion is that there is statistical, weak, evidence, for an association between acoustic responses measured within these caves and the placement of motifs

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Summary

Introduction

Around 40 000 yrs ago, important cultural and artistic innovations appear among the early human societies of Western Europe. These include cave paintings (parietal art), 1332 J. The production of bone aerophones, and portable items of mobiliary art, including both human and animal figures and occasional theriomorphs (Clottes et al, 1995; Conard et al, 2009; Morley, 2013). Considerable evidence exists for the significance of organized sound in prehistory (Megaw, 1968; Scarre and Lawson, 2006; Till, 2009; Fazenda, 2013; Wyatt, 2009; Morley, 2013) and previous researchers have suggested links between painted caves and sound or music making (Reznikoff and Dauvois, 1988; Waller, 1993b)

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