Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Using Archival Japanese Paper and Thermoplastic Resins to Prepare Fossils for Storage, Display, Transport, and Radiography
Published on: November 14, 2025
Acoustics of the Lascaux cave and its facsimile Lascaux IV
Daniel E Commins1, Yves Coppens2, Takayuki Hidaka3
1Commins Acoustics Workshop, 15 rue Laurence Savart, 75020 Paris, France.
Abstract:
Access to the original Lascaux cave, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its 18 000 year old paintings, has been restricted since 1963. In 2016, an accurate facsimile, Lascaux IV, was designed and built. In the original cave, Lascaux I, classical contemporary room acoustics measurement systems could not be used. However, it has been possible to perform simplified measurements in a few minutes. Similar measurements were made in Lascaux IV once completed. The data provide a unique insight of the acoustic behavior of the Lascaux cave: it shows that the two caves, the original and the copy, have similar acoustical characteristics. In both cases, in the famed Hall of Bulls, the impulse response is smooth, reverberation time is relatively long, and speech intelligibility is fair; this environment is suitable for the ceremonies that presumably took place there. Because of the precision of the copy, Lascaux IV could be used as a 1/1 scale-model of Lascaux I. Therefore, sophisticated acoustical tests could be undertaken in Lascaux IV to help specialists in their archeological investigations. For example, resonances could be precisely documented to explore the potential relationship between parietal painting positions and echoes or sound effects that may have been used in ritual ceremonies.
Related Concept Videos
The Auditory Ossicles
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...
Anatomy of the Ear
The Cochlea
Standing Waves in a Cavity
Oscillations In An LC Circuit

