Reflected encounters at hunter-gatherer rock art sites by the water

This article seeks to recapture the sensory experiences of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the Finnish Lake District by examining the acoustics of their rock art sites. The sites consist of vertical cliffs rising directly from the lakes, with painted images of humans, boats, and animals, sometimes also drummers (5000–1500 calBC). The acoustic impulse response measurements performed at 37 sites indicate that the painted cliffs, in their original state, reflected sound more strongly and accurately than the nearby lakeshore rocks. The psychoacoustic criterion and the auralizations created through artistic improvisations indicate that the reflections generated discrete single-repeat echoes, which endowed sounds produced in front of the cliffs with their auditory mirror images. As these reflections appeared to emanate from invisible sources behind the paintings, the auditory and visual images overlapped merging into one multisensory experience. Although the sounds and music of prehistoric people are beyond our reach, the study shows that the physical environment actively participated in their activities, co-vibrating and creating reciprocal tangible encounters between the human and more-than-human worlds. For the history of sound and music, the study provides an example of how significant a role sound reflections could have in past societies.

本研究旨在通过考察芬兰湖区史前岩画遗址的声学特性，还原芬兰湖区史前狩猎采集先民的感官体验。这些遗址均为直接临湖的直立崖壁，其上绘制有人类、船只与动物形象，部分还绘有鼓手形象，年代跨度为公元前5000至1500校准年（calBC）。研究人员对37处遗址开展了声脉冲响应（acoustic impulse response）测量，结果显示，保存原始状态的绘有岩画的崖壁，其声音反射效果比附近湖岸岩石更强、更精准。心理声学标准与通过艺术即兴创作生成的听觉化（auralizations）结果表明，此类反射会产生清晰的单次重复回声，使崖壁前发出的声音拥有听觉镜像效果。由于这些反射似乎源自岩画后方的无形声源，听觉意象与视觉意象相互重叠，融合为统一的多感官体验。尽管我们已无法获知史前人类的声响与音乐原貌，但本研究表明，物理环境曾积极参与先民的活动，与他们共同振动，构建起人类与超人文世界之间双向可感的互动联结。在声响与音乐史研究领域，本研究例证了声音反射在史前社会中曾发挥何等重要的作用。