Years of experiments at rock art sites in Finland have revealed that the echoes produced by smooth cliff faces may have influenced the neolithic people in that area. The artists behind the rock art and the people that later came to admire the figures would have experienced an spiritual sound, according to a recent study published in Sound Studies.
“We almost know nothing about sound in prehistoric times,” says Riitta Rainio, an archaeologist at the University of Helsinki.
Stone Age Rock Art in Finland
Most of the rock art in Finland dating to the Stone Age, that Rainio and her colleagues examined, was painted between 3,000 years and 7,000 years ago. The art that survives today uses a color red, which comes from mixing iron oxide taken from the soil.
