Lithophones or the Ringing Rocks: The Unknown Rhythm of the Southern Neolithic Soundscapes and the Recreation of it in the Modern Herders

Arjun Rao

Department of History and Archaeology, Central University of Karnataka, India; arjunrao@cuk.ac.in

Southern Neolithic (3200- 1200 BCE) sites are primarily hill sites spread across the semi-arid and sub-tropical savannah climatic regions of South India. The Neolithic villages developed their subsistence economy substantially through the domestication of animals and the adoption of pastoralism. The nature of their socio-cultural activities was associated with ashmounds, settlement terraces, bedrock mortars, rock art, and ringing rocks (lithophones). As the Neolithic villages were centred over the granodiorite hillocks and dykes swarms, the boulders were often structural in shape, such as parallel slabs and triangles. Whose edges produce a metallic sound on tapping with hammer stones. As a result, such boulder edges bear prominent cup marks/ cupules. This talk presents over a dozen such ringing rocks from various southern Neolithic settlement sites, which are often spotted at well-defined locations in the landscapes. The locations of ringing rocks/lithophones are being mapped, associated with rock bruising, bedrock mortars, tool grounding grooves, and water retention features. Though the Neolithic music/rhythm is unknown, the sounds they generate are voluminous, occurring in landscapes that may have had ritual connotations, serving as amusement during activities, signalled to grazing animals, and communicating with far-distant contemporary villages. The theory of signalling to a far-distant grazing animal and the lead herder is more appropriate, given that modern shepherd communities continue to ring the rocks in this context.