Stonehenge - was it a giant prehistoric glockenspiel? A team of researchers from London's Royal College of Art believe that is the case. They found stones within the ancient structure having acoustic properties that were previously unknown.
The series of monuments stretch over a few acres in England. Researchers received permission to strike stones along the Carn Menyn ridge, to record the sound they made.
Archeologists believe Stonehenge was constructed sometime between BC 3000 and BC 1600. It was modeled from rocks brought in from Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, nearly 200 miles from their current location. No one is even certain how the rocks traveled that great distance without wheels or roads. One theory says the giant rocks were transported to their current location by glaciers.
Researchers were attempting to record what ancient people might have heard while standing within the main rings of stone. This project was undertaking as a demonstration for students on how sounds can be used in digital projects. When struck, the tall rock tablets rang out with distinctive notes. Leaders of the study found different tablets, when played together, were able to produce distinct musical tones. This sound is said to be metallic, like a gong or bell.
One idea proposes the acoustic properties of the bluestones are the reason they were brought to their current location from so far away.
"We don't know of course that they moved them because they rang but ringing rocks are a prominent part of many cultures. You can almost see them as a pre-historic glockenspiel, if you like and you could knock them and hear these tunes," Tim Darvill, a Stonehenge archeologist, told the press.
Due to erosion and actions of humans, Stonehenge is one of the few areas in the world where this type of research could take place. Relatively little research has been conducted on the acoustic properties of the stones that make up the ancient structure.
The new study was headed by Jon Wozencroft, a sound specialist and senior tutor at the Royal College of Art, and Paul Devereux.
"A key question of the Landscape & Perception (L&P) project relates to how the sonic properties of the Carn Menyn bluestones might have been a factor in their selection for the building of Stonhenge... Carn Menyn and other areas of Preseli provide examples of a prehistoric resource whose integrity is relatively intact," the researchers wrote in the article announcing their results.
A new visitor center recently opened at the landmark.
Details of the study were published in Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture.
