The Soundscapes of the Lower Chuya River Area, Russian Altai

Ethnographic Sources, Indigenous Ontologies and the Archaeoacoustics of Rock Art Sites

Bibliographic Data

ID12426705
AuthorsM Diaz-Andreu (0000-0003-1043-2336, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, corresponding author), Raquel Jiménez Pasalodos (0000-0001-9422-8302, Universidad de Valladolid), Andrzej Rozwadowski (0000-0002-3982-1258, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), Lidia Álvarez-Morales (0000-0003-2369-0537, Universitat de Barcelona), Elena Miklashevich (0000-0003-3190-0311, Institute of Archaeology), Neemias Santos Da Rosa (0000-0001-8800-146X, Universitat de Barcelona)
Year2022
Volume30
Issue2
Pages335-362
Publication date2022-05-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Archaeological Method and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1072-5369 • E-ISSN: 1573-7764
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10816-022-09562-w
OpenAlexW4280564514
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited43

The acoustics of the Lower Chuya River area rock art landscape are analyzed through both the exploration of its acoustic properties and the ethnographic information gathered about the region. The results obtained in the acoustics tests undertaken in the area, in particular at the rock art sites of Kalbak-Tash I, Kalbak-Tash II, and Adyr-Kan, are examined. They indicate that the perceived loudness resulting from a natural amplification of sound (strength parameter) and music and speech clarity may have been some of the reasons behind the selection of these locations for rock art production. The ethnographic sources related to the Altai and other Siberian areas are then reviewed as a way of providing an ontological framework for the study of Altaian sonic concepts and behaviors in nature. As the sources indicate, at least for the historical period and presumably earlier, in the prehistoric period, all existing beings are entangled by sound, and they mimic each other in endless ways. We argue that these sites were selected in a non-linear relational ontological framework. It is suggested that the multidisciplinary perspective combining archaeology, physical acoustics, and ethnography has considerable potential for providing a new, richer understanding of rock art landscapes

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · CLARITY · Ethnography · Indigenous · Natural (archaeology · Period (music · Prehistory · Rock art · Sound (geography · Soundscape · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Ecology · Geology · Oceanography

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