Archaeological Acoustics Newgrange and similar.

studiorat

Knowing absolutely nothing about archaeology apart from watching Time Team when there’s nothing better to do. I thought I’d post some observations about Newgrange and see what people here may think…

1. According to the Swiss musicologist and gereral newagey chancer Hans Cousteau, the frequency of the period of Venus resonates at an A tone, actually a little sharp of A but close enough for jazz as we say!!!

2. Newgrange passage tomb is a Venus alignment. Every eight years, Venus aligns with the passage and inner chamber of Newgrange just before sunrise. The lintel over the entry is carved with eight X’s. (Surely after 3500 years or whatever this alingment would not be the same due to precession or whatever it’s called)

3. During study in 1995 Robert Jahn, (Princeton uni), and Paul Devereux, (author and researcher) found the resonant frequency inside of Newgrange to be 110 Hz also an A tone, and well within the usual range of a baritone singer. (an octave below venus;)) Also after comparing the patterns of the sound waves from their tests in the chamber they also noticed that the spiral shapes carved in the stones was strangely similar!

The Dord Ard horn instruments found around the country apparently do not have the same fundamental frequency of A… (unfortunately!) Playing these instruments it would seem that circluar breathing is a necessary technique.

4. It could be possible that chanting at these particular frequencies (A 110Hz, 220 Hz or 440Hz) could in fact set up a pattern in dust or smoke floating in the air in the chamber, if sunlight was coming through it, similar to the patterns carved around the chamber itself. It would be quite spectacular. It would also be easy enough to tune your voice to the resonant frequency rather like humming along with the hoover if you will.



5. So assuming people actually did this in Newgrange. Why would they do this? Was it build purposefully? Or something discovered later on? Getting together in a group to sing and suddenly all the smoke and dust in the room lines up into the compressions and rarefactions of a sound wave sounds like great craic, and would be reason enough for me to take part… Would they do it in what’s supposed to be a sacred grave? Who knows?


http://www.5min.com/Video/Cymatics-How-to-Create-Patterns-with-Frequency-3177549

Apparently some Tibetean temples also display the same properties and their singing or chanting also use the same circluar breathing techinques mentioned above. And interestingly enough acoustical resonances across sand covered diaghprams (see: cymatics on youtube) also produce similar patterns to Tibetean Mandalas…





Would any of the Archeaologists here consider I was wasting my time following this any further?

bawn79

You might get more of a response here

www.themodernantiquarian.com

Gnar

There was a documentary the on discovery channel a few years ago that looked at a similar theory.They visited Stone Henge ,Maes Howe in Scotland and Newgrange as far as i remember.They had theories about standing waves, a phenomenom that would cause sound to be canceled out or appear to come from somewhere else.

In Newgrange they hypothisised like the original comment on sound patterns being visible in dust rising in the air and that concentric ring and wave carvings may be a representation of this.

It was a few years ago and im afraid i cant remember the name of the documentary.Anyone else remember it?

B11gt00e

Hello Studiorat,

Interesting stuff and I particularily liked the bit on using dust and smoke to allow a physical manifestation of soundwaves.

I've wandered many of the old stone sites in the Americas, and your quest for more information on acoustics and ancient sites brought to mind some of the Mayan Architecture in Central America which display unusual and seemingly finely engineered acoustic properties.

One archaeological site with much information out there on the net would be Chichen Itza. You may even find some video demonstrations on you tube to highlight acoustic phenomena.

I also paste some material below from another thread (not from boards!) which may be of interest, but mainly as they give the exact names of the structures within the Mayan Site I have alluded to. This may help you further your research on the subject if you are at all interested.

Your post interested me, as contemporary man study's ancient sites from a contemporary perspective, and I have always wondered how different sites could reveal so much more if only we had the good sense to try to broaden our frame of study.

... I hope something here might be of use to you or stimulate further investigation.

Good luck.

At least two structures at the Mayan ruins of Chichen
Itza in Mexican display unusual and unexplained
acoustical properties.

The Great Ballcourt:

The Great Ballcourt is 545 feet long and 225 feet wide
overall. It has no vault, no dcontinuity between the
walls and is totally open to the sky.

Each end has a raised "temple" area. A whisper from
end can be heard clearly at the other end 500 feet away
and through the length and breath of the court. The
sould waves are unaffected by wind direction or time of
day/night. Archaeologists engaged in the reconstruction
noted that the sound transmission became stronger and clearer
as they proceeded. In 1931 Leopold Stokowski spent 4 days at
the site to determine the acoustic principals that could be
applied to an open-air concert theater he was designing.
Stokowski failed to learn the secret.

The Castillo:

This structure is a temple that looks like a pyramid
and is the one most commonly pictured on travel
brochures for the Mexican Yucatan. Apparently if you
stand facing the foot of the temple and shout the echo
comes back as a piercing shriek. Also, a person
standing on the top step can speak in a normal voice
and be heard by those at ground level for some
distance. This quality is also shar3ed by another
Mayan pyramid at Tikal.