Mayan Temples Have Sound Effects
2002-12-10
If you clap your hands in front of the 1,100-year-old Temple of Kukulcan, in the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, the pyramid chirps a reply in the voice of the sacred quetzal bird. “Now I have heard echoes in my life, but this is really strange,” says acoustical engineer David Lubman, who thinks the Mayans built their pyramids to create specific sound effects. A handclap at the base of Kukulcan?s staircase generates what Lubman describes as a “chir-roop” sound that first ascends and then falls, like the cry of the native quetzal bird.
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