Sound-reflecting shelters inspired ancient rock artists
Acoustic data suggest early European painters preferred echo chambers
By
Bruce Bower
8:00am, June 26, 2017
Ancient rock artists were drawn to echo chambers. Members of early farming communities in Europe painted images in rock-shelters where sounds bounced off walls and into the surrounding countryside, researchers say.
Rock-shelters lacking such sound effects were passed up, at least in the central Mediterranean, report archaeologist Margarita Díaz-Andreu of the University of Barcelona and colleagues in the July Journal of Archaeological Science. In landscapes with many potential rock art sites, “the few shelters chosen to be painted were those that have special acoustic properties,” Díaz-Andreu says.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sound-reflecting-shelters-inspired-ancient-rock-artists
