sacred sites international

Sacred Sites The Newsletter of Sacred Sites International

New Findings on the Acoustical Dimensions at Sacred Sites

By Amanda Chi and Nancy Becker

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When we think of acoustics, it is easy to imagine music and possibly even acoustic instruments. Acoustics, however, is a scientific field devoted to studying sound waves. This interdisciplinary field is also being applied to archaeology. Researchers from a variety of disciplines are now exploring the role acoustics

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played at ancient sacred sites around the world. Archaeologists specializing in archaeoacoustics are investigating how sound enhanced ancient sites including natural and built sacred places.

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Sound at Sacred Sites Introduction: Pages 1-2

European Prehistoric Caves: Pages 2-4

Sound at Sacred Sites Chichen Itza, Mexico: Pages 4-5 :: Chavín de Huántar, Peru: Pages 5-6

Sound at Sacred Sites Theater of Dionysis, Greece: Pages 6-7 :: Stonehenge, England: Pages 7-8 :: Notre Dame de Chartres, France: Page 8

Sacred Sites International www.sacred-sites.org Volume XXVI & XXVII, Number 1/2, Fall 2013 Winter 2014

Prehistoric instruments, from upper left - flute, whistle, bullroarer, idiophonePrehistoric instruments, from upper left - flute, whistle, bullroarer, idiophone

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qualities of a variety of sacred places, from Mayan temples to Gothic cathedrals. The role acoustics often plays is an integral, yet subtle one in the way a culture participates in nature, festivals, religious processions and rituals.

European Prehistoric Caves

Some of the earliest examples of the relationship between space and sound can be found in the prehistoric painted caves located throughout the European continent. These caves often contain dramatic paintings of herds of animals such as bulls, horses, deer and a few hybrid human-animal figures. The remains of prehistoric instruments have also been discovered in a number of caves and it has been theorized that one of the cave paintings may even depict an instrument being played. (See

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drawing below)

There have been notable discoveries of prehistoric flutes, whistles, bullroarers and idiophones (depicted on cover) in caves. Flutes dating from 42,000 and 35,000 years ago have been found in French caves such as the one at Isturitz in the French Pyrenees, depicted on the cover. Another significant find of a near complete prehistoric flute was made at a prehistoric German cave, Hohle Fels, found in the Ach Valley near Ulm. The instruments were usually made from the bones of birds, cave-bears or mammoths and they were an average length of 8 inches with 3-7 holes and would have been held like a clarinet. (Depicted at left) (Science Daily: Music Went with Cave Art in Prehistoric Caves.)

The role acoustics often plays at sacred sites is an integral, yet subtle one…

Prehistoric Flute Hohle Fels Cave, Germany

The field of study includes the exploration of how instruments and human voices interacted with sacred spaces, affording archaeologists a deeper understanding of the cultural and religious practices embraced by people thousands of years ago. Archaeologists and technologists including sound engineers are using sophisticated equipment to record and monitor sound at sacred sites.

Through the collaboration of scientists and experts in human history, researchers have been able to uncover how sound may have been used to enhance the sacred

"The Little Sorcerer" from Trois Freres Cave, France


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Castillo Cave in Puente Viesgo, Spain Cracks in the walls of caves & painted symbols may have been places

where prehistoric shamans accessed the spirit world.

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Other artifacts may provide evidence of the types of activities that took place in the caves and their relationship to music - markings on the cave walls and bones embedded into fissures and cracks in the walls imply types of shamanistic activity. Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams explored these ideas in their book, The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves. The authors suggested that crevices in the walls of caves, often enhanced with painted symbols might have been places shamans used to access the spirit world through the openings in the walls.

Images of figures that are half man and half animal, found in approximately fifteen prehistoric caves, are theorized to be shamans and their spirit helpers. Some researchers

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believe that the bison-headed man found in the French prehistoric cave, Les Trois Freres, is playing a flute. (See drawing on bottom of page 2) This image could link music to shamanistic practices and rituals. (Pfeiffer, The Creative Explosion, pp. 180-182)

One researcher examining the relationship between sound, music and meaning in Paleolithic caves is Iegor Reznikoff, a professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris. Reznikoff discovered that the most acoustically resonant place in prehistoric caves correlates with locations having the densest concentration of paintings. He noted, in addition, that musical sound reaches a deep emotional place because it is “more primitive in our consciousness than the level


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of speech.” (Reznikoff, On Primitive Elements of Musical Meaning)

Steven Waller, Ph.D., an independent scholar, did acoustical research using percussive sounds before painted herds of bison and horses found in cave and at other rock art sites. The resulting echoes suggested a galloping herd of animals. Paleolithic percussion instruments made from hip and shoulder bones were discovered near Kiev according to John Pfeiffer in his book, The Creative Explosion.

We can be fairly certain music was played in prehistoric caves and that other vocal and percussive sounds would have been produced there. Visionary singer, Susan Elizabeth Hale, the author of Sacred Space, Sacred Sound, set out to discover first-hand the effects of vocal music at Lascaux. She had to request special entry to sing in the cave’s Hall of the Bulls because the cave is now closed to the general public. Once there, she stood and sang before the painting of bulls and heard her voice “being reflected back by the bison – no longer just [her] voice, but the bison’s voice, the voice of the cave itself” (Hale, 2007, p.33). She observed that the sound reflected off the painted

walls was louder than the sound from the unpainted walls, supporting Reznikoff’s findings.

While the physical attributes of sound, such as volume, can be measured, the relationship between sounds and its effect on a visitor’s psyche is something that can only be inwardly felt. It is the environment of the cave, the acoustics, and most importantly the connection that a human being feels with the space that makes the cave sacred.

Chichen Itza, Mexico

Chichen Itza, located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, is a vast Mayan-Toltec sacred complex. The site’s name means “at the mouth of the well” referring to the two sink holes or cenotes nearby. One is known as the Sacred Cenote and was featured in Mayan ceremonies in which objects and humans were sacrificed into the cenote as part of the worship of the rain god, Chaac.

The sacred ceremonial site, dating as early as the 5thCCE through the 14thCCE, reflects both the culture of the Maya and the Toltec who invaded the area, and is closely tied to the vision of the renowned Maya astronomers.

The Mayan calendar of 365 days is built into the principle temple, a step-pyramid, dedicated to Kukulkan, the feathered serpent god. Each of the temple’s four staircases has 91 steps and the final crowning platform provides the 365th stair.

The temple was oriented to take advantage of the spring and autumn equinoxes when it is possible to observe a creeping shadow, a symbolic manifestation of Kukulkan, descending the central staircase to join the serpent’s head at the bottom of the stairs.

Since 1998, acoustic scientists have been exploring the relationships between sound and the sacred purpose of the Temple of Kukulkan. Kukulkan, being a feathered serpent god, draws close comparisons to its Aztec counterpart, Quetzalcoatl, whose name is derived from the quetzal bird.

David Lubman, an acoustic engineer, has been investigating the relationship

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of Kukulkan to sound, resulting in his controversial claim that hand claps reverberating on the steps mimicked the call of the quetzal bird. He reasoned that since the site was built by Mayan master astronomers and dedicated to the Featured Serpent God, it likely would have demonstrable acoustic manifestations tied to the god. (Ball, Nature)

Nico Declerq, a physicist and mechanical engineer, working at Ghent University in Belgium in 2002, made further investigations into the use of sound at the site. He found that the sound of the footsteps of visitors on the pyramid steps resulted in sound reverberations like the sound of rain falling into water. His theory was that this could be tied to the worship of the rain god, Chaac. (Declercq. Acoustical Society of America)

Due to the significance and importance of the two gods, Kukulkan and Chaac, and the sophistication of the Mayan and Toltecs’ knowledge of sacred architecture and astronomy, it was not difficult for researchers to believe that the temple of Kukulkan was built to have an acoustical dimension that would enhance its ceremonial purposes.

Chavin De Hu ntar, Peru

Another acoustical research project is being conducted by Stanford University on the archasacred ceremonial site located in the Peruvian Andes at the confluence of the Monsa and Wacheksa Ruvers. This complex was built and used between 1500 and 300 BCE and is considered a major pre-Columbian site that pre-dated the Inca culture. The site consists of immense temple structures, pyramidal platforms, courts and plazas.

Today, the ceremonial center is home to the

Conservation Project. As a branch of that project, Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and Archaeology/Anthropology have delved into archaeoacoustics, in order to further understand how people once lived and worshipped.

Miriam A. Kolar, PhD candidate and lead researcher, has been studying the role of the local Strombus galeatus conch shell found in the area and its relation to the ceremonial space it occupies. Her dissertation specifically examines

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Temple of Kukulkan, Chichen Itza, Mexico

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archaeological psychoacoustics, which shows how the sounds made from the shells affect human auditory perception as the acoustics reverberate off the galleries of Chavín.

Using volunteers from the project and recordings of the shells, Kolar has conducted experiments to research psychoacoustics. Proof that the shells were instruments are found in stone reliefs that show a Chavín individual holding the conch shells in his hand (Kolar, Stanford). Twenty of these shells were found at the site, beautifully decorated and intact enough to be played.

At the Circular Plaza of Chavín De Huántar, priests in a ceremony that befitted the religious nature of the space would play the shell called a pututus, The calls of the pututus would draw religious participants to the Circular Plaza in order to hear the words of the oracles. Using a bouquet microphone array, Kolar has been able to record the acoustic measurements of the pututus as its trumpet-like sound reverberates off the walls, thus amplifying the priests’ calls. Furthermore, the intake of hallucinogens from the San Pedro cactus would intensify the experience for the ritual participants. As Kolar describes, “there was theater going on.” (Boyle, NBC News)

Theater of Dionysus, Greece

The science of acoustics is easily apparent at the Greek Theaters dating from the 5th and 4th BCE, where we can see and hear the theaters being used, experience their use of sound and realize the importance of these structures to Greek culture.

Greek theaters are commonly associated with political oratory and dramatic presentations, however, they are also connected with religious rituals through the cult of Dionysus in Athens. The Great Dionysia festival, also called the City Dionysia, held at the beginning of Spring, was a celebration in honor of Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine, who is also the patron god of drama. The festival consisted of processions, drunken revelries, sacrifices and most importantly – the theater. The institution of dramas “crystallized out of ritual miming, singing and dancing that told and retold traditional myths about the Athenians’ gods and heroic ancestors” (Cartledge, 1985, p.122). Four days of the festival were allotted for the performance of dramas as a competition amongst various playwrights. Some of the most famous were Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Dramas and comedies would be performed at the Theater of Dionysus, which

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held up to 17,000 theatai or spectators. The theater consisted of three main elements: the skene (stage), the orchestra, and the theatron, which seated spectators (Collignon, 1886, p.89). Despite such an enormous crowd, all performances were held without the use of modern-day microphones or speakers.

The design of the theater was built in such a way that a single voice could be carried to all 17,000 individuals in attendance. The importance of sound in the Dionysiac celebration is also seen in the use of the orchēstra, where the Chorus acted, danced and sang to the music of the aulos, a double fluted instrument (Cartledge, 1985, p.123). They contributed and oftentimes narrated the storyline, but their role in sound appeared to amplify the musicality of the theater.

The architecture and acoustic design of Greek theaters was so successful that the Romans adopted it and the monumental structures continued to be focal points for religious theatrical festivals.

Stonehenge, England

The role acoustics plays at theaters is easily apparent, however, people rarely think of sound when it comes to Stonehenge, a site

shrouded in mystery and associated with religious rituals and astronomy. The ancient standing stones located on England’s Salsibury Plain, have been a source of fascination for archaeologists, scientists and tourists.

A three-year research project was conducted by the University of Salford’s Acoustics Research Centre and their colleagues from the Universities of Huddersfield and Bristol resulting in a recreation of what the aural experience inside Stonehenge would have been in approximately 2100 – 2000 BCE.

It was impossible to gather all of their evidence from the Stonehenge that stands today because stones have been moved or are missing, so researchers traveled to a full-sized replica of Stonehenge located in the state of Washington, U.S.A. This reproduction, known as Maryhill, was dedicated in 1918 and completed in 1929 as a monument dedicated to the memory of soldiers whose lives were lost in WWI. At Maryhill, researchers discovered that because of Stonehenge’s design, a sound coming from the center of the circle would not have echoed from an original destination, but would have been diffused by the surrounding stones. The resulting effect would be a resounding echo coming from all different directions.

Stonehenge, England

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This also meant that a conversation held within Stonehenge could be heard anywhere within the structure. (Fadenza, Acoustics Research Center, University of Salford, website)

Stephen J. Waller of Rock Art Acoustics conducted a separate project, hypothesizing that the interfering sound waves of two flutes playing a C#, created a pattern very much akin to the rocks at Stonehenge. As the notes are played simultaneously, sound waves emanate from the flutes that intersect one another creating a slightly higher pitch as an observer circles the source. Waller conducted his experiment by setting the two flutes in the center of a circle. As he walked around the originating sound, he heard changes in pitch at different moments “as if there was something blocking the sound.” (Boyle, NBC News) After mapping out the patterns, he saw that they mirrored the placement of the giant rocks at Stonehenge. While there may be no evidence of a direct connection between the sound waves of Stonehenge and its sacred roots, the sacred site is home to a display of acoustical phenomena.

Notre-Dame de Chartres, France

Many modern religious buildings, unlike some of the prehistoric sacred structures already discussed, have been designed primarily with sound and music in mind. The art of music and singing as a form of religious praise is ever present in the Catholic tradition. This is especially true at the Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres in France, which was built starting in the 12th Century on through the 13th Century.

Mystical singer Susan Elizabeth Hale, visited the cathedral and

tested its acoustic design. She noted that the cathedral was built over underground water that feeds the sacred spring located in the crypt below the main sanctuary. Some researchers have found 14 underground streams that converge directly beneath the High Altar where the priest would conduct Mass, notably Blanche Merz and later Bonvin & Trilloux in their book, Église Romane: Lieu d’energie: pour une géobiologie du sacré.

Hale believes, that the water functions as a natural microphone to amplify sounds within the cathedral, particularly the human voice. In fact, after Hale sang in Chartres, the next day a Belgian couple approached and informed her that her voice “filled the entire cathedral.” (Hale, 2007, p.188. She sang again in the Chartres crypt and with the combination of sound and the sanctity of the space, some observers were overcome with emotion. While physical aspects of a space may enhance and project volume, it is the spiritual use of the space that

adds value and emotion for people experiencing the sacred place.

Sacred places are not simply something we see and experience physically, but also spaces that can be enhanced by what we hear. Studying past and present cultures now involves recreating what others may have experienced aurally when the sacred sites were built.

All of these sacred spaces were built without the use of modern technology, yet they contain amazing acoustical properties. We must be mindful, however, of the potential technology has to destroy these sites. Lascaux had a modern ventilations system installed, for example, and that badly impacted the natural environment through the introduction of harmful bacteria transmitted by the workmen. Visitation is highly restricted requiring special passes solely for researchers. Susan Hale also observed microphones and electrical wiring run throughout Chartres cathedral, noting that amplification often renders the natural acoustics of the structure obsolete.

Crowds of tourists at a single location can also disturb the setting and tone of a site such as Stonehenge, which also has restricted access. These problems may affect the physical nature of sites, but they can also disturb the religious and sacred aspects as well. Therefore, it is important to preserve sites for their cultural, visual, aural and spiritual values. __________________________

Amanda Chi is a recent Classical Studies graduate of Emory University. Nancy Becker is co-founder of Sacred Sites International.

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