Echoes Near Stone Age Rock Art Suggest Rituals Were Common Practice

Learn why the sound of echoes near rock art sites in Finland gives insight to how neolithic people interacted with their artwork.

By Joshua Rapp Learn
Jan 15, 2025 5:30 PMJan 15, 2025 5:28 PM
Värikallio rock art
(Credit: nidafoto/Shutterstock)

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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.

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