Scientist Steven Waller thinks a sound wave effect was so mysterious to people 5,000 years ago, that it compelled them to erect Stonehenge. Credit: iStockPhoto
VANCOUVER: Ancient legends of thunder gods can be explained today with the modern science of sound waves, say scientist who believes an auditory illusion inspired the creation of Stonehenge.
The famous, 5,000 year-old stone circle in Britain is one of the best-known world heritage sites and many have guessed at the reasons for its existence, from a prehistoric observatory to sun temple to sacred healing ground.
Steven Waller, an independent scientist who has studied cave art for 20 years and cultivates a particular interest in the sounds of ancient sites, thinks that a sound wave effect was so mysterious back then that it compelled people to erect Stonehenge.
Acoustic interference
The phenomenon Waller referred to is known as acoustic interference. It happens when two sources of sound, such as two bagpipers, are playing the same note at the same time from different places in a field.
As a listener passes, the sound waves, rather than aligning to make the noise louder as one might expect, actually bounce off each other to create a wavering, muffling effect. “You hear the sound modulating between and loud and quiet,” Waller said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Vancouver.
“That would have been a very mysterious phenomenon, totally inexplicable. You would think that two pipers playing would sound louder than one piper but as you walk around it modulates and there are some places where it is almost completely silent,” he said. “So the net result… is this ring of invisible objects, massive objects blocking the sound. And it occurred to me that that is very similar to the structure of Stonehenge.”
Legends aren’t enough
Legends back up the notion, too, like the tale of the two magic pipers who led some maidens to dance around in a circle and they all turned to stone, Waller recounted.
But being a scientist, legends were not enough to satisfy his curiosity, so Waller set up an experiment to test his theory with modern people wearing blindfolds and experiencing the same auditory illusion as the pipers in a field scenario.
“I asked them what was between them and the sound,” Waller said. “They drew pictures that are very similar to Stonehenge. They pictured these massive objects blocking the sound, where it was really just sound wave cancellation.”
Stonehenge sound illusion
Waller also found that when he tested the site itself, placing a sound source in the centre of Stonehenge and then walking around to hear how it came across, the same blocking, modulating effect could be heard.
Still, he remains convinced that the sound illusion came first, inspiring the erection of the stone circle with its 17 upright blocks of sandstone, which weigh up to 4,500 kg, topped with six lintels, or structural items, aligned towards the direction of the sunrise on the summer solstice. “As a result of that auditory illusion and that vision of stones that they could hear but not see, that is why they built Stonehenge,” Waller said. “They made that vision concrete, so to speak, by actually building the temple.”
Sound waves like magic
Waller said his theory doesn’t necessarily conflict with others that suppose a solar purpose, because both indicate the site was a mystical place where people tried to understand the makings of the universe. “Stonehenge is one the big mysteries of the past. Yes, there are a lot of theories but they are all controversial, none of them really explain… None of the theories really add up.”
He also urged contemporary society to take care to preserve the acoustic past of our predecessors and the archaeological sites we hold dear, and cautioned against destroying them through practices such as widening ancient caves for easier tourist access. “Nobody has been paying attention to the sounds. We have been destroying the sounds,” he said. “The ancient people didn’t know about sound waves. It was magic. That is why we need to preserve and study the soundscapes of archaeological sites.”
Acoustic interference – Schneider Electric Sensor Competency Centre
Please leave a comment
Please comply with our Community rules.
Steven Waller’s sound theory may be a by-product of Stonehenge’s placement configuration, but I am certain the original purpose of the placement of Stonehenge stones is something else.
I have heard from a meta-modern scientist well versed in quantum physics, chaos, string theory and torsion field that each of the stones at Stonehenge are what is referred to in ancient Vedic documents as ‘swayambhu’, otherwise referred to as sacred sites possessing positive ‘vibrations’. They are special aspects created in our mother earth which emit ‘vibrations’, a particular sort of subtle energy, each one different than the other, which subtle emissions benefit and further human physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
The ancients would have known that about these stones, and it may likely have been the work of rivals, oppressors or conquerors in history who placed the caps on the upright stones to stifle that knowledge and those benefits.
The stones capping the tops of the upright stones are not part of the original configuration – these stone caps are actually blocking the subtle energy of the upright stones, stopping the beneficial energy from emitting and, therefore, preventing whatever natural benefits these stones may be able to offer people, and society by extension.
The capping stones should be removed.
Best regards,
Liallyn Fitzpatrick
Canada
A pretty off-beat theory!
The capping stone were probably placed by the Fluegeschwein.
dont manky up this theory with rubbish , you have no idea of the validity of you thoughts on this , , accoustics are verifiable and can be studied in an enviroment that can be peer reveiwed , your freinds is like religeon , leap of faith requierd , let this and other facts come to light through testing , not leaps of faith .. it may be they just built these things cause of people like you telling them about gods or vibrations that are magic , gosh , if they had smarter people then , they might have had computers in the first century , so i wonder what you are resposible for holding back in the bigger picture eh !
Leave a Reply