Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29, 2017 -- To date, the exact purpose of Paleolithic cave paintings is unknown. Evidence suggests, however, that these ancient works of art are more than mere decorations. Cave paintings may have played a role in Paleolithic man’s religious rituals. Alternatively, some suggest that caves with many detailed paintings of animals might have served as spaces for hunting groups to bond and prepare for their hunts. 

One popular theory proposes that the would-be painters of the Paleolithic era chose the places where they painted based on the acoustics of those locations in the caves. The originators of that theory reported a causal connection between the “points of resonance” in three French caves and the position of Paleolithic cave paintings. It was further hypothesized that music or chants played an integral role in cave rituals 20,000 years ago. 

David Lubman, an acoustic scientist and fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, became interested in the subject due to his published expertise in sound reverberation. Lubman will share some of the insights from his research during Acoustics ’17 Boston, the third joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the European Acoustics Association being held June 25-29, in Boston, Massachusetts. 

“Many structures throughout history featured reverberant spaces because reverberant sound can be awe-inspiring. With that said, there is currently not enough evidence to suggest that these Paleolithic artists deliberately chose reverberant spaces for their paintings,” Lubman said. 

“The main problem is that paintings on porous stone do not last, so we don’t know if such paintings existed and were lost over time or were never painted in the first place,” Lubman said. “Conversely, paintings on non-porous stone do persist and coincidentally spaces composed of non-porous stone walls are good spaces for sound reverberation. It’s important to note, however, that this does not mean that that these spaces were deliberately chosen for paintings because sound reverberates well in them. Correlation, after all, does not imply causality. As the old saying goes, crowing roosters do not cause the sun to rise.” 

To answer the question, Lubman proposes a more systematic acoustic study of the reverberation in these caves. 

“It can be challenging to use the human ear alone to identify the difference between reflection, which occurs when sound bounces back off a surface like a non-porous stone wall, and reverberance, which occurs when sound lingers long after an initiating action has been completed. That’s why it would be so helpful to have trained technicians with modern acoustical equipment testing these spaces,” Lubman said. 

“If a significant degree of correlation between the location of the reverberant spaces and the presence of paintings were to be found, this alone would be an important discovery and opens up the possibility for new explanations,” Lubman said. “It could, for example, be entirely possible that Paleolithic cave artists initially chose spaces with non-porous stone because they were good canvasses for paintings -- and then subsequently discovered that they were also great locations to generate reverberant sound.” 

“If the expected correlation is not found, however, this would also be a vital step in helping clarify our understanding of what actually transpired in these caves,” Lubman said. 

“Either way, the benefits of acoustical scientists and archaeologists collaborating on such studies are clear,” Lubman said. “Together, we can work towards developing a deeper understanding of our past.” 

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Session 5pAAc3, "Did Paleolithic cave artists intentionally paint at resonant cave locations?" by David Lubman, is at 2:20-2:40 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 29, 2017 in Room 206 of the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center.

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MORE MEETING INFORMATION

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Acoustics ’17 Boston, the third joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the European Acoustics Association.

The meeting is being held June 25-29, 2017 at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

USEFUL LINKS

Main meeting website: http://acousticalsociety.org/content/acoustics-17-boston
Technical program: http://acousticalsociety.org/content/program-acoustics-17-boston
Meeting/Hotel site: http://acousticalsociety.org/content/acoustics-17-boston#reservation
Press Room: http://acoustics.org 

WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

In the coming weeks, ASA’s World Wide Press Room will be updated with additional tips on dozens of newsworthy stories and with lay-language papers, which are 300-800 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio, and video. You can visit the site during the meeting at http://acoustics.org/world-wide-press-room/

PRESS REGISTRATION

We will grant free registration to credentialed journalists and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, contact Emilie Lorditch ([email protected]) or Julia Majors ([email protected]) at AIP Media 301-209-3090. For urgent requests, staff at [email protected] can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips or background information. 

LIVE MEDIA WEBCAST

A press briefing featuring will be webcast live from the conference Monday, June 26, 2017 in the afternoon and Tuesday, June 27, 2017 in the morning in room 111 of the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Register at https://www1.webcastcanada.ca/webcast/registration/asa617.php to watch the live webcast. The schedule will be posted here as soon as it is available. 

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://www.acousticalsociety.org

ABOUT THE EUROPEAN ACOUSTICS ASSOCIATION

The European Acoustics Association (EAA) is a non-profit entity established in 1992 that includes in its membership societies predominantly in European countries interested in to promote development and progress of acoustics in its different aspects, its technologies and applications. EAA gathers 33 societies of acoustics and serves public citizens and more than 9000 individual members all over Europe with yearly events as well as scientific conferences and publications such as Acta Acustica united with Acustica and Acoustics in Practice. The European Acoustics Association (EAA) is an Affiliate Member of the International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) and of Initiative of Science in Europe (ISE): https://euracoustics.org/. 

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