Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Acoustic Measurements and Digital Image Processing Suggest a Link Between Sound Rituals and Sacred Sites in Northern Finland

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In northern Finland, near the canyon lakes of Julma-Ölkky, Somerjärvi, and Rotkojärvi, steep rock cliffs produce distinctive acoustic spaces. On these cliffs, prehistoric rock paintings (5200 to 1000 BC) as well as an ancient Sámi offering site (circa 1100 to present) can be found. Ethnographic sources describe that the Sámi used to sing and listen to echoes while making offerings there. This article presents the results of an archaeoacoustic research project that seeks to explore the role of sound in the development and use of these archaeological sites. The innovative set of methods includes multichannel impulse response recording, angle-of-arrival estimation of early reflections, spectrum analysis, digital image processing, and 3D laser scanning. On the basis of the analyses, it is concluded that the cliffs that have been painted or held as sacred are efficient sound reflectors. They create discrete echoes and, accordingly, phantom sound sources. Especially at the Värikallio cliff near Lake Somerjärvi, the sound appears to emanate directly from the painted figures. These results, together with previously unnoticed drumming figures in the Värikallio painting, provide a clue to the significance of the sound rituals at these sacred sites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. As a rule, Finnish rock paintings are located immediately on shorelines, often on steep cliffs that rise directly from the water (See Lahelma 2008). It is therefore safe to assume that most of them were originally painted from a boat or the frozen lake surface. Nowadays, the majority of the paintings are several metres above the current water level and, when the hydrological history of the lake is known, they can be dated using the shore displacement chronology. That is the single most important means of dating Finnish rock art.

References

  • Äikäs, T. (2015). From boulders to fells: sacred places in the Sámi ritual landscape. The Archaeological Society of Finland: Helsinki http://www.sarks.fi/masf/masf_5/masf_5.html. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Äimä, F. (1903). Muutamia muistotietoja Inarin lappalaisten vanhoista uhrimenoista. Virittäjä, 8, 113–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blake, E. C., & Cross, I. (2015). The acoustic and auditory contexts of human behavior. Current Anthropology, 56(1), 81–103 http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/679445. Accessed 25 Apr 2017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blauert, J. (1997). Spatial hearing. The psychophysics of human sound localization (Revised ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Challis, S., Hollmann, J., & McGranaghan, M. (2013). ‘Rain snakes’ from the Senqu River: new light on Qing's commentary on San rock art from Sehonghong, Lesotho. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 48(3), 331–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cross, I., & Watson, A. (2006). Acoustics and the human experience of socially-organised sound. In C. Scarre & G. Lawson (Eds.), Archaeoacoustics (pp. 107–116). Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz-Andreu, M., & García Benito, C. (2012). Acoustics and Levantine rock art: auditory perceptions in La Valltorta Gorge (Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science, 39, 3591–3599 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440312003007. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Díaz-Andreu, M., & García Benito, C. (2013). Sound and ritual in Levantine art: a preliminary study. In R. Jiménez, R. Till, & M. Howell (Eds.), Music & Ritual: Bridging Material & Living Cultures (pp. 227–256). Berlin: Ekho Verlag: Publications of the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz-Andreu, M., & Mattioli, T. (2016). Archaeoacoustics of rock art: quantitative approaches to the acoustics and soundscape of rock art. In S. Campana, R. Scopigno, G. Carpentiero, & M. Cirillo (Eds.), CAA2015. Keep the revolution going: Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (pp. 1049–1058). Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drake, N. (2012). Archaeoacoustics: tantalizing, but fantastical. ScienceNews, 17 February 2012. https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/scene/archaeoacoustics-tantalizing-fantastical. Accessed 6 Mar 2016.

  • Egan, M. D. (2007). Architectural acoustics. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: J. Ross Pub.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eneix, L. C. (Ed.). (2014). Archaeoacoustics—the archaeology of sound. Myakka City, FL: The OTS Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagg, B. E. B. (1956). The rock gong complex today and in prehistoric times. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 1(1), 27–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farina, A. (2000). Simultaneous measurement of impulse response and distortion with a swept-sine technique. Paper number 5093 presented at the 108th AES Convention, Paris, France, 19–22 February 2000. The Audio Engineering Society E-Library. http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=10211. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

  • Fellman, J. (1906). Anteckningar under min vistelse i Lappmarken 2. Helsingfors: Finska Litteratursällskapet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldhahn, J. (2002). Roaring rocks: an audio-visual perspective on hunter-gatherer engravings in northern Sweden and Scandinavia. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 35(1), 29–61 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.588.4455&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 25 Apr 2017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallström, G. (1960). Monumental art of northern Sweden from the Stone Age. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helskog, K. (1988). Helleristningene i Alta. Alta: Alta Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollman, J. C., & Crause, K. (2011). Digital imaging and the revelation of ‘hidden’ rock art: Vaalekop Shelter, KwaZulu-Natal. Southern African Humanities, 23, 55–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Itkonen, T. I. (1948). Suomen lappalaiset vuoteen 1945. Porvoo: WSOY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kivikäs, P. (1995). Kalliomaalaukset—muinainen kuva-arkisto. Jyväskylä: Atena.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolar, M. A. (2013a). Acoustics, architecture, and instruments in Ancient Chavín de Huántar, Perú: An integrative, anthropological approach to archaeoacoustics and music archaeology. In R. Jiménez, R. Till, & M. Howell (Eds.), Music & ritual: bridging material & living cultures. Berlin: Ekho Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolar, M. A. (2013b). Archaeological psychoacoustics at Chavín de Huántar, Perú. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuttruff, H. (2000). Room acoustics. London: Spon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahelma, A. (2008). A touch of red: archaeological and ethnographic approaches to interpreting finnish rock paintings. Iskos 15. Finnish Antiquarian Society: Helsinki https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19406. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahelma, A. (2010). Hearing and touching rock art: Finnish rock paintings and the non-visual. In J. Goldhahn, I. Fuglestvedt, & A. Jones (Eds.), Changing pictures: rock art traditions and visions in northernmost Europe (pp. 48–59). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahelma, A. (2012). Kuka maalasi kalliot? Muinaistutkija, 1, 2–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lassfolk, K., & Uimonen, J. (2008). Spectutils: an audio signal analysis and visualization toolkit for GNU Octave. In J. Pakarinen, C. Erkut, H. Penttinen, & V. Välimäki (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11 th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx-08), September 1–4, 2008 (pp. 289–292). Espoo: Finland http://legacy.spa.aalto.fi/dafx08/papers/dafx08_49.pdf. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luho, V. (1971). Suomen kalliomaalaukset ja lappalaiset. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja, 51, 5–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund, C. (1974). The sound of archaeology. Stockholm: Musikmuseet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund, C. (1981). The archaeomusicology of Scandinavia. World Archaeology, 12(3), 246–265 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00438243.1981.9979799. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGurk, H., & MacDonald, J. (1976). Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature, 264, 746–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Núñez, M. (1995). Reflections on Finnish rock art and ethnohistorical data (pp. 123–135). XII: Fennoscandia Archaeologica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paulaharju, S. (1932). Seitoja ja seidan palvontaa. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura: Helsinki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qvigstad, J. (1929). Lappiske eventyr og sagn 4. Oslo: Aschehoug.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rainio, R., Lahelma, A., Äikäs, T., Lassfolk, K., & Okkonen, J. (2014). Acoustic measurements at the rock painting of Värikallio, northern Finland. In L. C. Eneix (Ed.), Archaeoacoustics—the archaeology of sound (pp. 141–152). Myakka City, FL: The OTS Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznikoff, I. (1987a). Sur la dimension sonore des grottes à peintures du paléolithique. Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, 304(II/3), 153–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznikoff, I. (1987b). Sur la dimension sonore des grottes à peintures du paléolithique (suite). Comptes rendus de l’Academie des Sciences, 305(II), 307–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznikoff, I. (1995). On the sound dimension of prehistoric painted caves and rocks. In E. Tarasti (Ed.), Musical signification: essays in the semiotic theory and analysis of music (pp. 541–558). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznikoff, I. (2002). Prehistoric paintings, sound and rocks. In E. Hickmann, A. D. Kilmer, & R. Eichmann (Eds.), Studien zur Musikarchäologie III (pp. 39–56). Rahden/Westfalen: Verlag Marie Leidorf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznikoff, I., & Dauvois, M. (1988). La Dimension sonore des grottes ornées. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Francaise, 85, 238–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savvateyev, Y. A. (1970). Zalavruga: arkheologicheskie pamyatniki nizovya reki Vyg: Chast 1, Petroglify. Leningrad: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarre, C., & Lawson, G. (Eds.). (2006). Archaeoacoustics. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taavitsainen, J.-P. (1979). Suomussalmen Värikallio: kalliomaalaus Nämforsenin ja Itä-Karjalan kalliopiirrosten välissä. Kotiseutu, 3–4, 109–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Till, R. (2014). Sound archaeology: terminology, Palaeolithic cave art and the soundscape. World Archaeology, 46(3), 292–304 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.2014.909106. Accessed 14 Jul 2016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waller, S. J. (1993). Sound reflection as an explanation for the content and context of rock art. Rock Art Research, 10, 91–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waller, S. J. (2006). Intentionality of rock-art placement deduced from acoustical measurements and echo myths. In C. Scarre & G. Lawson (Eds.), Archaeoacoustics (pp. 31–39). Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waller, S. J., Lubman, D., & Kiser, B. (1999). Digital acoustic recording techniques applied to rock art sites. American Indian Rock Art, 25, 179–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zubrow, E. B. W. (2014). The silence of sound: a prologue. In L. C. Eneix (Ed.), Archaeoacoustics—the archaeology of sound (pp. 7–9). Myakka City, FL: The OTS Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Kone Foundation, the Academy of Finland, and the University of Helsinki Future Development Fund. We also want to thank Pekka Mikael Laine, Jaska Uimonen, Taina Riikonen, Ulla Valovesi, Jorma Kaiponen, Iina Sirviö, Annu Mikkonen, Antti Rainio, Sinikka Alanko, and Marjo Juola for their generous help and contribution to the fieldwork.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, History, Culture, and Art Studies/Musicology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 59, FI 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Riitta Rainio & Kai Lassfolk

  2. Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies/Archaeology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 59, FI 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Antti Lahelma

  3. University of Oulu/Archaeology, P.O. Box 1000, FI 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Tiina Äikäs

  4. University of Oulu/Archaeology, GIS Laboratory, P.O. Box 1000, FI 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Jari Okkonen

Authors
  1. Riitta Rainio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Antti Lahelma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tiina Äikäs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kai Lassfolk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jari Okkonen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Riitta Rainio.

Ethics declarations

Funding

This study was funded by the Academy of Finland (project number 267592), the University of Helsinki Future Development Fund (project number 7470264), the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Kone Foundation.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(WAV 6355 kb)

Sound sample 1 Noise burst and the echo from the painted cliff of Julma-Ölkky (the microphone stand 58 m off the cliff at a temperature of -13° C), repeated four times

ESM 2

(WAV 7218 kb)

Sound sample 2 Drumbeat and the echo from the sacred cliff of Taatsinkirkko (the microphone stand 49 m off the cliff at a temperature of +8° C), repeated four times

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rainio, R., Lahelma, A., Äikäs, T. et al. Acoustic Measurements and Digital Image Processing Suggest a Link Between Sound Rituals and Sacred Sites in Northern Finland. J Archaeol Method Theory 25, 453–474 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9343-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9343-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation