Paleolithic artists were surely impressed by the acoustical properties of their cave dwellings. Since many inhabited caves and grottoes were highly reverberant, it is compelling to speculate that cave acoustics importantly influenced ancient artists. One imaginative suggestion is that Paleolithic artists intentionally chose the most resonant locations for painting. This thesis was proposed by Iegor Reznikoff and Michel Dauvois in the Bulletin de Ia Societe Prehistonque Francaise 85, 238–246 (1988) and was engagingly described by British archaeologist Chris Scarre [“Painting by resonance,” Nature (London) 338, 382 (1989)]. Scarre found this thesis consistent with “the likely importance of music and singing in the rituals of our early ancestors.” The researchers found a greater density of paintings where sonic resonances were judged strongest. However, that finding may be spurious: the same result is predictable from painterly rather than sonic considerations. Painters would likely choose nonporous rather than porous rocks to conserve pigment. Since nonporous rocks are generally highly sound reflective, nonporous rock locations tend to be highly resonant. Since porous rocks tend to absorb sound, porous rock locations are less resonant. Thus the higher density of cave paintings found at resonant locations may not imply the artists’ preference for resonance.
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April 2009
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April 08 2009
Did paleolithic cave artists choose resonant locations for paintings?
David Lubman
David Lubman
DL Acoust., 14301 Middletown Ln., Westminster, CA 92683, [email protected]
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J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 2736 (2009)
Citation
David Lubman; Did paleolithic cave artists choose resonant locations for paintings?. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 April 2009; 125 (4_Supplement): 2736. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4784533
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