Rock Art Research

Vol. 42 No. 1 (2025)
DOI : https://doi.org/10.56801/rar.v42i1.535
Published : Feb 11, 2025

THE CASE FOR SEISMIC COMMUNICATION AMONG MAMMOTHS IN PALAEOLITHIC ART

Andrew Paterson (1), Renée Rust (2), Charles W. Helm (3)

(1) African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, PO Box 77000, Gqeberha, 6031, South Africa
(2) African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, PO Box 77000, Gqeberha, 6031, South Africa
(3) African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, PO Box 77000, Gqeberha, 6031, South Africa
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Abstract

Seismic communication through infrasound occurs in both genera of extant proboscideans. Demonstrating its occurrence in extinct mammoths can rely on evidence from the body fossil record, trace fossil record and rock art record. Upper Palaeolithic rock art of mammoths in six western European caves suggests that the artists depicted mammoth communication through sound and probably through infrasound over a period of 20,000 years. Substantial correlations exist with the African rock art of elephants. The rock art record, buttressed by the fossil record, suggests that seismic communication among proboscideans was not confined to extant species but also existed in mammoths.