A further indication that people in the past knew much
more about sound and its properties than we give them
credit for;
http://www.discover.com/feb_99/index.html
Tourists delight in the strange chirping echoes they
produce when they clap their hands at the base of the
steep staircases that sweep up the face of Kukulkan, a
1,300-year-old Mayan pyramid in the Yucatan.
The echoes are eerily reminiscent of the call of the
quetzal, a bird the Maya considered a representative
of the gods.
The dimensions of the steps, it turns out, are the key
to the effect. Each step is tall, but the tread, where
the foot is placed, doesn't cut deeply into the
pyramid. If the stairs were deeper and not so high,
the effect on the echoes would not be as great, and
they wouldn't sound like a chirp.
That Lubman noticed the similarity between the echo
and the quetzal's call was a "lucky hunch," he says,
but the Maya, he thinks, knew exactly what they were
doing when they built the staircase at Kukulkan. "For
about 1,000 years before this, they had been building
stone staircases in the open, where you are going to
get an echo," he says.
"All it would take is one person in 1,000 years to
notice that when you shorten the staircase tread, the
pitch of the tone rises." The Maya could have used the
sound in ceremonies conducted at the pyramid, which
was clearly linked to the sacred bird. Kukulkan is a
Mayan deity whose name shares the same root as the
Mayan word for "quetzal" and who is often depicted
with the bird on his back.
--------------------------
Tie this in with the comment from;
http://www.keelynet.com/gravity/saucsong.htm
Among the gifts which Montezuma, the last Aztec
Emperor, gave to Cortez (who nobly rewarded him with
torture and death) were two large flat gold disks
about the size of gramophone records. These were said
to be emblems of royalty and were intended for King
Charles V of Spain and his Queen. The King's disk was
about a quarter of an inch thick; the Queen's was much
thinner.
Montezuma knew what the disks were for, but it seems
that Cortez looked upon them as very clumsy and heavy
things to wear, and it is doubtful if they ever
reached Spain, for they are not listed in any of the
treasure ships' inventories.
These disks were cut to a size and thickness exactly
corresponding to the size of the person for whom they
were intended. They had to be of the correct size so
as to suit the wavelengths of his personal vibrations.
Thus the owner alone could use them.
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