Posted on 07/03/2008 3:58:32 PM PDT by blam
Cave Men Loved to Sing
Heather Whipps
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.com
Thu Jul 3, 1:01 AM ET
Ancient hunters painted the sections of their cave dwellings where singing, humming and music sounded best, a new study suggests.
Analyzing the famous, ochre-splashed cave walls of France, the most densely painted areas were also those with the best acoustics, the scientists found. Humming into some bends in the wall even produced sounds mimicking the animals painted there.
The Upper Paleolithic people responsible for the paintings had likely fine-tuned their hearing to recognize the sound qualities in certain parts of the cave and chose to do their artwork there as a kind of landmark, perhaps as part of a singing ritual, said researcher Iegor Reznikoff, a specialist in ancient music at the University of Paris X in Nanterre.
Reznikoff will present his findings at the upcoming Acoustical Society of America meeting in Paris, France.
Cave dwellers used echolocation
People who lived in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic - from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago - spent a lot of time in caves, often living there or at least camping out for short periods. "They were hunters in cold conditions," Reznikoff told LiveScience.
With only dull light available from a torch, which couldn't be carried into very narrow passages, the ancient hunters had to use their voices like sonar to explore the crooks and crannies of a newfound cave, Reznikoff explained.
"When acting in a cave in conditions similar to prehistoric ones ... the surroundings a few meters ahead are almost completely dark," he said, adding that "since sound reaches much farther than reduced light, especially in irregular surroundings, the only possibility and security is to explore the cave with the voice and its echoing effects."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Orch-et-straw... orchestra... yes, Holmes we have it! The symphonies that were conducted by caveman must have been incredible! In fact, the Beatles even played the Cavern with their long hair music and Ringo Starred in a caveman movie or two... wondrous.
Ohh! Don’t you dare go away! I know I can be a pill sometimes, but this GGG list you and Sunken run is the most outstanding feature of this here forum gizmo.
Well, your GGG list and RedRover’s organizing of resistance against the cultural destroyers and lovers of the enemy who keep vomiting up witch hunts against my fellow Marines.
Also, Sandman’s daily compilations of of daily news briefs on the current war efforts gets a solid good mention.
But, you guys are definitely in the top three.
Correction:
I meant SandRat, of course. But, I’m a retard, everyone knows that already.
If you go, please let us know where you move to. GGG is the best list on the site.
High notes of the singing Neanderthals
http://www.timesonline.co.uk | 01/30/05 | Jonathan Leake
Posted on 01/30/2005 6:25:53 PM PST by IllumiNaughtyByNature
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332270/posts
I've known a few Bertha Butts in my time.
Yeah. Ok. All them’s good too. Sorry I missed em in my confuddled state of panic, earlier.
But, you still can’t go away.
:’) I don’t think it’ll come to that. But you realize of course, I’m basically lazy, and blam does the bulk of the posting of GGG topics...
Oh, so it’s blam I need to be nice to, not you. Good to know, thanks.
I hate it when I miss spend my brown nosing energy on the wrong boss :)
Hey, y’never know, blam *could* leave, and then...
;’)
You do good work. Hang in there.
Well heck. If blam left it all to you, I’d have to relearn how to behave. So far I haven’t gotten booted from this ping list, so I must be within bounds of tolerable.
If you took over, that could change. I only have so much adaptability points in my char build (RPG geek speek) and I don’t want to have to spend them all in one place.
;’)
Yoohoo!!!
Any sabertooth cats at home????
What you said.
Thanks.
Well, Blam, if you leave, I’ll probably hit the road, too—yours are almost the only articles I read anymore, as it is very difficult and tiresome to sift through all of the *religious war* postings that seem to have taken over in the past year. I just go straight to Pings, read what you guys have posted, and a few others, and sneak back out without having to sift through what seesm like hundreds of daily *my Christianity is better than yours* posts. Am I wrong, or is this taking over around here? /rant off
Thanks!
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