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An acoustic search in a 12th-half-tenth of Stonehenge length of a scale style (above) shows that the finished monument would have amplified speech and advanced musical sounds, but only for the inmates of the stone circle.
Center for Acoustic Research / Univ. Salford
Welcome to Soundhenge.Better known as Stonehenge, this ancient monument in the south of England created an acoustic area that amplified the voices and stepped forward the sound of any music that is played for the state of others in the huge circle of stones, suggests a new study.
Due to the way the stones were placed, this speech or music would not have been projected beyond Stonehenge into the surrounding countryside, or even into the state of other people close to the stone circle, the scientists report in the Journal of Science. Archaeological of October.
To explore the sound dynamics of Stonehenge, acoustic engineer Trevor Cox and his colleagues used laser scanners of the site and archaeological evidence to construct a physical style one-twelfth the length of the actual monument, the largest-scale reproduction that may have compatibility. in an acoustic chamber at the University of Salford in England, where Cox works. This room simulated the acoustic effects of the open landscape surrounding Stonehenge and compacted the internal floor of the monument.
Lego Stonehenge, as Cox called the model, was assembled assuming that the state outer stone circle of Stonehenge, a type of silcreta rock discovered in southern England, was originally composed of 30 stones.Stonehenge now contains 63 complete stones, adding five Sarsen state stones and 12 other stones.Based on an estimated total of 157 stones placed on the site about 4,200 years ago, 3-d researchers published 27 stones of all sizes and shapes.The team then used silicone molds from those pieces and plaster combined with other fabrics to recreate the remaining 130 stones.The simulated stones were built to minimize acoustic absorption, as were the real stones in Stonehenge, Cox said.
Eventually, the team placed speakers and microphones in internal locations and outside the doors of Stonehenge Lego.Each speaker emitted squeaky sounds ranging from bass to high frequencies.Sound frequencies have been modulated so that speaker sounds interact with style stones.in the same way that herbal sounds behave in Stonehenge.
Despite discrepancies between the stones, the team discovered that reverberation time, a measure of the time it takes for the sound to disintegrate through 60 decibels, briefly persisted inside Stonehenge’s Lego, is on average about 0.6 seconds within the half-frequency sound style. This effect would have advanced the ability to hear forward voices and sounds of drums or other musical instruments, Cox says.In comparison, the reverb time reaches approximately 0.4 seconds in a living room, approximately two seconds in a giant concert.corridor and about 8 seconds in a giant cathedral.
Stonehenge Lego did not assign sounds to the surrounding domain or give more flavor to the quality of sounds from external speakers.And the sounds didn’t echo in the model. Internal simulated stone equipment darkened and scattered sounds were reflected in the outer circle of sarsen, blocking the formation of the echo.
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Previous studies have been conducted on Stonehenge’s acoustics, but were incomplete, said archaeologist Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University in England, who stood at Stonehenge but does not care about the new studies.These paintings include sound measurements taken in what’s left of Stonehenge today and in a reproduction of Stonehenge in Washington state made of concrete blocks.Another acoustic examination used a computer style from the old site.
Although the new examination has been “conducted with care and rigour,” there are doubts about the sound effects on Stonehenge, says musicologist Rupert Till at Huddersfield University in England, who has done some of the previous studies.necessary, for example, to stumble upon echo effects in style that are also provided in Stonehenge, Till argues.Other studies will also have to perceive why “Stonehenge buzzes when the wind blows strong,” he says.
It is not known what ceremonies or activities, if any, took place in Stonehenge, although the site served as a cemetery about 5,000 to 4,400 years ago (SN: 2/8/18).And Cox warns that Stonehenge’s designers were probably less involved with acoustics than with disorders like a dead remedy and astronomical alignments.
Regardless of what other people did once at Stonehenge, the new studio “shows that the sound was pretty well contained in the monument and, by implication, [Stonehenge] was well removed from incoming sounds,” Says Darvill.”It must have been one of Stonehenge’s basic experiences.”
T.J.Cox, B.M.Fazenda and S.E.Greaney.Use of scale modeling for prehistoric acoustics from Stonehenge.Journal of Archaeological Science.Vol.122, October 2020.doi: 10.1016 / j.jas.2020.105218.
Bruce Bower has written behavioral science for Science News since 1984 and writes about psychology, anthropology, archaeology and fitness issues.
Science News, founded in 1921 as an independent, non-profit source of accurate data on the latest news in science, medicine and technology.Today, our project remains the same: empowering others to evaluate existing occasions and the world around them.is published through society for science
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