This article fascinates me. In my book Extinction Event, the prologue starts in ‘the caves’, those deep dark wells that protected us from the wilds. While there, we developed our sense of art and passion for nature, while also mimicking some of its greatest traits.
From the article:
“These sites would have been more suitable for storytelling than shamanic rituals.”
“Steven Waller suspects that early artists used the caves’ acoustics as a way to summon up the sound made by moving animals, and cites the percussive sounds created while making stone tools as an example of the type of sounds they could produce. He claims that when these are made in rock shelters, they evoke the sound of individual hooved animals running. On the other hand, similar sounds made in deep caves resemble those made by herds of animals such as bison, horses or bulls. ‘It’s like the walls are alive,’ says Waller.”
The idea that sounds play a key role in the perceived enjoyment of living in cave both blows my mind and then comes as no surprise, given our alignment with how music and sound enhances our existence.
Prehistoric cultures around the world used sound in strikingly different ways. In Siberia’s Altai mountains, for example, amplification and unusually high clarity of sound were detected at potential gathering spots, where rituals and offerings involving music may once have taken place. In Mexico’s Santa Teresa canyon, there is rock art at sites where pre-Hispanic cultures are thought to have held ritual dances. And at Spain’s Cuevas de la Araña, the researchers report finding paintings primarily where the caves’ acoustics “could have intensified the sensory effect and emotional impact of ceremonies likely performed with musical accompaniment”.
I can picture the situation now, where it’s less about a single shamanic actor, looming over everyone else, but much like we enjoy today at the campfire, swapping stories about our daily exploits, sharing ideas and sometimes even arguing about right vs wrong. Or ‘the sound person’ in the background, banging rock or coconuts together (maybe Monty Python wasn’t too far off?) to emulate different animals.
We know so little about ourselves and every day there are new revelations about the way were thousands of years ago.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2502898-we-can-finally-hear-the-long-hidden-music-of-the-stone-age/
Archived article here: https://archive.ph/HpCxP
