Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 04 August 2017 Version of attached le: Accepted Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Fazenda, Bruno and Scarre, Chris and Till, Rupert and Jim¡enezPasalodos, Raquel and Rojo Guerra, Manuel and Tejedor, Cristina and Onta£n¡onPeredo, Roberto and Watson, Aaron and Wyatt, Simon and Garc¡a Benito, Carlos and Drinkall, Helen and Foulds, Frederick (2017) 'Cave acoustics in prehistory : exploring the association of Palaeolithic visual motifs and acoustic response.', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America., 142 (3). pp. 1332-1349. Further information on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4998721 Publisher's copyright statement: c 2017 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 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Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk 1 Cave acoustics in prehistory: exploring the association of Palaeolithic 2 visual motifs and acoustic response 3 4 Bruno Fazendaa) 5 Acoustics Research Centre, School of Computing, Science and Engineering, University of 6 Salford, The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WT, UK 7 Chris Scarre 8 Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK 9 Rupert Till 10 Department of Music and Drama, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, 11 HD1 3DH, UK 12 Raquel Jiménez Pasalodos, 13 Sección Departamental de Historia y Ciencias de la Música, Facultad de Filosofía y 14 Letras, University of Valladolid, Plaza del Campus s/n, 47011, Valladolid, Spain 15 Manuel Rojo Guerra 16 Departamento Prehistoria, Arqueología, Antropología Social y Ciencias y Técnicas 17 Historiográficas, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, University of Valladolid, Plaza del 18 Campus s/n, 47011, Valladolid , Spain 19 Cristina Tejedor 20 Departamento Prehistoria, Arqueología, Antropología Social y Ciencias y Técnicas 21 Historiográficas, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, University of Valladolid, Plaza del 22 Campus s/n, 47011, Valladolid , Spain 1 23 24 Roberto Ontañón Peredo 25 Cuevas Prehistóricas de Cantabria, Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, 26 Carretera de las Cuevas s/n, 39670 Puente Viesgo, Spain 27 Aaron Watson 28 Creative Director, Monumental, www.monumental.uk.com 29 Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK 30 Simon Wyatt 31 Independent Researcher, Bristol, UK 32 Carlos García Benito 33 Departamento de Ciencias de la Antigüedad, University of Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna, 34 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain 35 Helen Drinkall 36 Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK 37 Frederick Foulds 38 Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK 39 40 41 42 a)Electronic mail: [email protected] 43 Date of upload 44 2 45 Short title: Cave acoustics in prehistory 3 46 ABSTRACT 47 During the 1980s, acoustic studies of Upper Palaeolithic imagery in French caves—using 48 the technology then available— suggested a relationship between acoustic response and 49 the location of visual motifs. This paper presents an investigation, using modern acoustic 50 measurement techniques, into such relationships within the caves of La Garma, Las 51 Chimeneas, La Pasiega, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo, in Northern Spain. It addresses 52 methodological issues concerning acoustic measurement at enclosed archaeological sites 53 and outlines a general framework for extraction of acoustic features that may be used to 54 support archaeological hypotheses. The analysis explores possible associations between 55 the position of visual motifs (which may be up to 40,000 years old) and localized acoustic 56 responses. Results suggests that motifs, in general, and lines and dots, in particular, are 57 statistically more likely to be found in places where reverberation is moderate and where 58 the low frequency acoustic response has evidence of resonant behaviour. The work 59 presented suggests that an association of the location of Palaeolithic motifs with acoustic 60 features is a statistically weak but tenable hypothesis, and that an appreciation of sound 61 could have influenced behavior among Palaeolithic societies of this region. 62 63 4 64 I. INTRODUCTION 65 Around 40,000 years ago, important cultural and artistic innovations appear among the 66 early human societies of Western Europe. These include cave paintings (parietal art), the 67 production of bone aerophones, and portable items of mobiliary art, including both 68 human and animal figures and occasional theriomorphs (Clottes, 2010; Conard et al., 69 2009; Morley 2013). Considerable evidence exists for the significance of organized 70 sound in prehistory (Megaw, 1968; Scarre & Lawson, 2006; Till, 2009; Fazenda, 2013; 71 Wyatt, 2009; Morley, 2013) and previous researchers have suggested links between 72 painted caves and sound or music making (Reznikoff & Dauvois, 1988; Waller, 1993b). 73 The use of musical instruments by these early European societies indicates an 74 appreciation of sonic aesthetics and acoustic ecology in what would have been an 75 exclusively oral and aural culture, long before the adoption of writing systems. Our aim is 76 to explore whether this appreciation of sound extended to the acoustic response of spaces, 77 and how significant this was among Palaeolithic societies. This paper seeks evidence for 78 a relationship between early visual motifs (Palaeolithic paintings and engravings on cave 79 walls), particularly their positioning, and an appreciation of acoustic effects that 80 originated from interactions of sound with physical features of the surrounding 81 environment at those positions, termed in this paper the acoustic response. It provides a 82 full description of methods, results and conclusions. 83 Iégor Reznikoff and Michel Dauvois, both together and individually, have 84 explored how Palaeolithic human-made motifs in caves might be related to acoustic 85 response (Reznikoff & Dauvois, 1988; Dauvois, 1996; 1999; 2005; Reznikoff, 1995; 5 86 2002; 2006; 2011). Their research "shows a relationship between these paintings or signs, 87 and the sounds that might have been produced adjacent to them" (Reznikoff, 2002: 3), at 88 a series of French caves, including Le Portel, Niaux, Isturitz and Arcy-sur-Cure. 89 Our research builds upon and develops this earlier work of Dauvois and Reznikoff 90 and applies a systematic scientific approach to establish whether there is an association 91 between the location of motifs in caves and the acoustic response at those locations. A set 92 of five caves, each containing numerous motifs, are investigated in terms of the nature 93 and location of the motifs and the acoustic response at those positions, measured by state- 94 of-the-art techniques and equipment. For comparative statistical analysis, a number of 95 control positions where motifs are absent (or exceedingly rare) were also included in the 96 analysis. 97 In the discussion of our results, we have used terms such as likely, explanatory 98 and association, strictly in a statistical rather than an interpretative sense. Also, the term 99 motif is employed here for a number of reasons: "art" is a problematic and potentially 100 anachronistic term carrying numerous post-prehistoric implications; "painting" is 101 inaccurate as it does not extend to sculptures or engravings. Furthermore, the motifs are 102 highly variable, from simple dots or lines, to subtle exaggerations of natural rock shapes, 103 to the well-known but much less numerous illustrations of animals. “Motif” is a term that 104 covers all examples. 105 This paper presents relevant research context in existing publications (Section II), 106 the archaeological setting of the caves studied (Section III), details of acoustic 107 measurement and the acoustic responses obtained (Section IV), statistical analysis 6 108 (Section V), and a discussion and interpretation of the results (Section VI), before 109 concluding remarks. 110 111 II. RESEARCH CONTEXT 112 In his study of the French caves, Reznikoff explored a number of research questions. Are 113 there "more paintings or signs in locations with the best resonance or sound quality" 114 (2002: 39)? "To what extent would it be possible to establish on this factual and 115 experimental evidence the use these people made of sound and voice in relation with the 116 paintings or other signs in caves? (...) Is there a link between the location of a painting or 117 a sign and the sound value of this location in the cave?" (2002: 40). Reznikoff explored 118 the "resonance of sounds" in terms of their intensity and duration, and also considered the 119 number of echoes present. Intensity in this case referred to amplitude, or volume. 120 Duration expressed how a sound is sustained, and is perhaps best thought of as 121 reverberation time, although echoes complicate such a definition. A sound level meter 122 was used to measure intensity, and a wristwatch, or counting off seconds aloud, was used 123 to calculate duration. Excitation of these acoustic effects was effected through 124 vocalisations or the generation of noise signals. 125 Developed in the 1980s, the methodology employed by Reznikoff in these studies 126 presents a number of difficulties. The Palaeolithic populations that inhabited and 127 decorated the caves were Anatomically Modern Humans, with vocalization capacities 128 similar to our own.