Amid the ancient ruins of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza stands the limestone Temple of Kukulkan, an amazing marriage of science and religion. The temple, also called El Castillo, is a large step pyramid about 30 meters (98 ft) in height, with a base measuring 55 meters (180 ft) on each side. Kukulkan was a Mayan deity whose name means “feathered serpent.”From a scientific standpoint, the temple functions as a solar calendar. Each side of the pyramid has a stairway with 91 steps, which lead up to a common top step or platform housing the square Upper Temple. That’s a total of 365 steps, one for every day of the year. The stairways also split the pyramid’s nine tiers into 18 segments, the number of months in the Mayan calendar. On the spring and fall equinoxes, the setting sun casts a shadow that looks like a serpent’s tail slithering down the northern stairway to join a stone carving of the head of the serpent, Kukulkan, at the bottom. To the Maya, the Temple of Kukulkan was a symbolic sacred mountain, one of the power points connecting the real world to the Otherworld. The Maya repeatedly built new temples over old ones in order to accumulate this sacred energy, using elaborate rituals to make it easier for gods and ancestors to cross over into their living king.In many ancient cultures, spirits spoke in echoes—and according to acoustic engineer David Lubman, the Maya were no exception. If you clap your hands at the base of the pyramid, the sound returns as the chirped echo of the sacred quetzal bird, which was believed to be the messenger of the Mayan gods. Lubman believes that Mayan priests would clap to the crowds gathered at the temple. When the crowds clapped back, the pyramid would respond in the quetzal’s voice. The temple has at least two other surprising acoustic qualities. If you shout when facing the base of the pyramid, the echo will return as a piercing shriek. Furthermore, someone talking normally on the top step of the pyramid can be heard by people on the ground for quite a distance.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 20:45:17 +0000
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