Ancient building sites reveal sophisticated acoustic design

Science : Prehistoric peoples may have had a sophisticated understanding of acoustics, according to researchers who presented their findings today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Miriam Kolar of Stanford University has been studying Chavín de Huántar, an ancient village in a high valley in the Peruvian Andes. The complex consists of an elaborate maze of terraces, squares, megaliths, and tunnels. According to Kolar, the site’s interior complex of passageways served as sound-wave guides. During religious ceremonies, priests would try to evoke the mystical, supernatural voices of the oracles by blowing through conch-shell trumpets, which emitted haunting sounds that would travel through the corridors. Other meeting presenters from the emerging field of archaeoacoustics included Steven Waller, an independent scholar from La Mesa, California, whose studies have centered on Stonehenge and other stone circles in the UK; and David Lubman, from the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Noise Control Engineering, who has been researching the acoustical properties of Chichen Itza, Mexico.