Page 66 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

Introduction dieval times, including the environment and the
In medieval Europe, church bells played a cru- relationship between humans, acoustic informa-
cial role in daily life. They marked the passage tion, and dwelling places (Mills 2014).
of time, served as alarms during danger, and Over the past few decades, significant ef-
conveyed news of various events. These audito- forts have been made to map sound in archae-
ry messages were broadcast into the surround- ological contexts using Geographic Informa-
ing landscape. In addition, bells expressed and tion Systems (GIS). In 2004, Mlekuž simulated
shaped contrasting emotions —joy and sor- the propagation of bell sounds in the late me-
row— and influenced perceptions of respect, dieval soundscape of Polhograjsko hribovje in
community, and local identity (Corbin 1998; Slovenia, considering sound attenuation due to
Tullett 2020). The bell, often called the “voice of distance and topography (Mlekuž 2004). Oth-
God,” carried significant symbolic and political er studies have mapped the audibility of church
66 power across both secular and sacred domains, bells by tracing public footpaths onsite and not-
transmitting auditory messages effectively across ing whether the bells were audible (Mileson
2016). Similarly, sound was mapped at an archae-
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 2 / volume 12 (2024), number 2
the landscape (Castellet i de Ramon 2021, 223– ological site, combining GIS and onsite acous-
230; Parker and Spennemann 2024).
Church bell sound can be considered an tic measurements of pink noise captured with
earcon, as defined by Blesser and Salter (2007). sound level meters (Scullin 2019). Recent stud-
ies of sound propagation in landscapes have uti-
Earcon is a sonic event containing symbol- lized SPreAD-GIS, a freely available plugin for
ic meaning ‘by repeated exposure to a particu- ArcGIS. This tool allows complex calculations
lar event in a corresponding context, which then of sound propagation, including attenuation
creates an associating linkage between the sound due to distance, topography, atmospheric ab-
and its context,’ merging religious and philo- sorption, ground cover, wind, and background
sophical views of the cosmos with life on earth, noise. SPreAD-GIS has been used to test the
connecting here and there (Blesser and Salter soundscapes of archaeological sites (Hincks and
2007, 82). Emotional responses to bell sounds Johnston 2022; Primeau and Witt 2018; García
were deeply tied to feelings of attachment to a Atiénzar et al. 2022) and to study the propaga-
place, fostering a sense of belonging and connec- tion of bell sounds around medieval monasteries
tion (Mileson 2016). This strong link between (Bertoldi et al. 2022).
sound, emotion, and place underscores the im- This paper examines the case of Santa Ma-
portance of visualizing how far bell sounds per- ria d’Àneu, a church located in the Àneu valley
meated the landscape and how audible they were. at the western end of the Catalan Pyrenees. Our
Previous research has suggested that the focus is on its relationship with other religious
audibility of bells often coincided with parish centers in the Àneu deanery, a minor adminis-
boundaries, making them a unique soundmark trative division of the Diocese of Urgell that en-
that contributed to a sense of community (Cas- compassed several nearby parish churches under
tellet i de Ramon 2021, 230–241; Mileson 2016). the authority of a dean. This is a particularly in-
Understanding the inclusivity of soundscapes and triguing topic because the historical significance
the size of acoustic communities enhances our and role of Santa Maria d’Àneu within this ec-
comprehension of the medieval aural environ- clesiastical district remain unclear to historians.
ment and the communication networks among Based on available sources, it is nearly impossi-
neighboring parishes (Mlekuž 2004). That kind ble to confirm the hypothesis that this church,
of research fits into auditory archaeology, whose situated in the middle of a plain with no sur-
main objective is to gather acoustic information rounding settlement, served as the center of the
that sheds light on the everyday practices of me- deanery. However, our soundscape study aims to