The Soundscapes of the Lower Chuya River Area, Russian Altai: Ethnographic Sources, Indigenous Ontologies and the Archaeoacoustics of Rock Art Sites

Abstract

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.

Acoustic perception and emotion evocation by rock art soundscapes of Altai (Russia)

“…Although no explicit mention of rock art is made in the ethnographic sources, in some areas of Altai it is still considered wrong to modify the environments where carved stones are found. This supports the idea that the marking of the stones was part of the described spiritual and ritualistic imaginary, involving sound production and interaction with the acoustic environment ( Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a , b ). The rock art of this area is characterized by carvings made in a broad period ranging from, probably, the Neolithic to the Turkic era and even later.…”

“…The first bundle included a version of the stimulus set ( art+ 1) convolved with an IR recorded in front of one of the rock art panels at Kalbak-Tash I ( Figure 2 , E 86° 49′ 10″, N 50° 24′ 05″), in the area of the Lower Chuya river. Kalbak-Tash I is a rocky flattened hill, located in the lower part of the Chuya River valley, close to the confluence with the Katun river ( Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a ). The corresponding art− version of the stimulus set ( art− 1) was convolved with an IR recorded in the area of Urkosh ( Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a , 2022b ) called “rock face 2,” in the coordinates E 086° 33′ 36″, N 50° 32′ 50″ and not that far from the rock art site of Grand Yaloman ( Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a ), situated in E 86° 34′ 09″, N 50° 33′ 01″.…”

“…The major period of production was from 3,000 BCE to ca 500 CE. All the sites mentioned in this article had rock art motifs from all the different periods, indicating that they were repeatedly visited by many generations since prehistory ( Miklashevich and Bove, 2010 ; Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a , b ). This is the case of Kalbak-Tash I, Kalbak-Tash II, Grand Yaloman and Torgun I-5, The only exception is the panel of Urkosh IVb with only a few carvings of undiagnostic chronology.…”

“…By recording the so-called impulse response or IR, the acoustic signature of a space of archaeological interest can be recreated ( Alvarez-Morales et al, 2020 ; Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a , b ; Alvarez-Morales et al, 2023 ; Santos da Rosa et al, 2023 ). The IR method measures sound propagation between an emission point and a receiver device ( Farina, 2007 ), and allows the recreation of an acoustic space in laboratory conditions through the process of auralization ( Vorländer, 2008 ).…”

“…In Altai, soundscapes and acoustic phenomena had a significant cultural role, at least in historical times, and presumably in prehistoric times. The ethnographic accounts of Altai describe how natural and supernatural entities are related through sound in an ordinary basis, which shapes music esthetics: songs and singing styles imitate natural sounds and, at the same time, nature interacts and imitates human sound with phenomena such as echoes ( Díaz-Andreu et al, 2022a , b ). Although no explicit mention of rock art is made in the ethnographic sources, in some areas of Altai it is still considered wrong to modify the environments where carved stones are found.…”