MEMORISING · Remembering the Sound of Images: Cross-cultural study of rock art soundscapes and knowledge transmission in the New and Old Worlds.

Remembering the Sound of Images: Cross-cultural study of rock art soundscapes and knowledge transmission in the New and Old Worlds.

How do societies remember and pass on knowledge? Memories are fragile, and remembering is usually a volatile process and thus, people around the world, and through time, have created ways to recall events and to share knowledge. Memorising is not an intellectual process only, it involves a deep connection with feelings and emotions about how people remember their ancestors and the places that are important to them. The MEMORISING project is a training-through-research project aiming to explore the relationships between memory, rock art the acoustics of the site. But also, to incorporate other sounds that are part of the process through which memory is constructed such as music, songs and natural sounds. In this sense, some rock art sites globally still have contemporary values to people who live next to them and who sometimes use them and perform ritual activities. Thus, memories have a profound impact on the configuration of identity and reinforce the associations between members of a group. The importance of sound to present-day local communities has been explored through interviews following cultural and ethic protocols, historical and ethnographic accounts. At the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) I have received acoustic training to test the parameters during fieldwork activities in test areas, mainly in Oaxaca and Baja California Sur in Mexico. The results have been disseminated widely in ten academic conferences, two seminars and social impact has been sought through activities in local communities and media publications. Also, reports to local authorities and heritage managers have promoted future sustainability use and possible exploitation of the sites.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union