Revealing sounds from the stones

Dec 11 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT has guarded its secrets for thousands and thousands of years.

But now a Huddersfield scientist is hoping to discover: What DID people do at Stonehenge?

Dr Rupert Till is using cutting-edge acoustic technology to try and decode the secrets of the stones to expose aspects of Neolithic culture.

He revealed details of the research at a conference held at Bristol University.

Dr Till, an expert in music technology and acoustics at the University of Huddersfield, found that certain sounds would have been more easily produced, giving us an insight into what kind of activities would have taken place.

He carried out practical tests not at the site in Wiltshire, which is heavily-protected to protect the stones, but in the United States.

A full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge, designed as a World War I memorial, was built by American road builder Sam Hill at Maryhill in Washington.

Although the model has not previously gained any attention from archaeologists studying the original site, for Dr Till’s purposes the model was ideal. “We were able to get some interesting results when we visited the replica by using computer-based acoustic analysis software, a 3D soundfield microphone, a dodecahedronic speaker, and a huge bass speaker from a PA company.