Several years ago I took a summer course on ancient Greek theatre that involved traveling around Greece and visiting various theatres and archeological sites, and I will never forget what it was like being in the theatron at Epidaurus while my professor stood in the orchestra and performed a section of the Iliad in ancient Greek. It was utterly eerie and the closest thing I've ever experienced to time travel (and also the site is chock full of very friendly cats, 10/10). Thanks for the fascinating video!
Hi Bobbie, that sounds like a great experience. I am used to travelling around with fam all over Greece to explore our history. Can I ask the name of that course? Would be great to travel with a bigger group including archaeologists.
@@helenastat3510 Hi Helen! Alas I was in undergrad at the time and it was a course I took through my university in Canada, which I don't think is even offered there anymore. It was all students and professors from the school who traveled abroad for a month.
I remember reading about how cave paintings are done in such a way as to produce a form of moving picture when illuminated by fire. How about a show on that?
I've never heard of that, but I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to carve slits in a hollow log or a gourd, suspend it on a string above a fire and spin it quickly to achieve that kind of effect
@@francois-xavierdessureault8039 No, thy were painted in such a way that as the fire flickered, different colors would come into prominence and create a sort of animation. Sorry I can't remember where/when I saw it.
I have played my violin in several Greek amphitheatres and modern performance venues really can't compare. I enjoyed Epidarus, but my absolute favourite amphitheatre is at Ephesus. I don't really have words for the experience of playing there. What I can say is that I spent over 5 hours playing. Someday I hope to do a live recording there. It's such a remarkable space.
@@MaryAnnNytowl I trained classically, but these days I am predominantly a fiddler. I play most Canadian styles, though I tend to favour Cape Breton fiddling. When I went to Ephesus, I didn't play anything in particular, I just improvised. It was remarkable. If you want to listen to an amazing album, check out Oliver Schroer's Camino. It's a collection of improvised music he recorded in various small chapels and churches along the Camino de Santiago. You can hear the shape of the space he's playing in. Absolutely incredible. There is something about those kinds of spaces that pick up the music and lift it into something truly special.
That piramid in Chichenitza Is the Temple of Kukulcán. El castillo Is the name given by Spaniard conquistadors. But everyone there knows it by the former (and cooler) one.
@XORRE @XORRE Hahaha, no. "El Castillo Pyramid" is, literally, "The Castle Pyramid". It not only sounds silly and grammatically weird, it also paints a very ridiculous mental image.
We tend to forget that just because ancient peoples were not as technologically advanced as we are now, they were still just as smart. Trial and error are powerful tools.
Honestly, intelligence was far more necessary for the survival of our ancestors than for ourselves. We could very well be getting less intelligent at this point.
Jarrett Benning I have thought the same thing myself. Nowadays most workers are doing the same task over and over, when I worked in retail it was mind numbing. Even many educated people specialize in only one field. Meanwhile hunter gatherers had to understand every part of their environment and become skilled at a wide variety of jobs.
Its still mind boggling to me that most of the architecture that was created in South America was done without the use of wheels. They hadn't been invented yet nor did they get imported until much later.
blksmagma Actually, they apparently had little toys with wheels, it's just not practical to *use* wheels to transport much of anything on winding narrow trails up mountains through rainforests.
We have lost about 10cc of brain mass since the dawn of civilization, from 60cc to 50cc according to theories based on the brain cavity size in ancestral humans. (Saw in documentary, need citation)
This is so damn fascinating for us music producers / sound engineers. In those structures, we see (and hear lol) things, like phasing, pitching, reverb etc, that we do in our studio with computers and other gear, happening physically in the real world!
@@BRUXXUS haha yeah, there might be out there. But i'm pretty sure you can get pretty close with just normal reverbs, delays and filters! Of course if you somehow hear some recording of these places
This comment ☝ I agree that learning stuff like this is a big help, definitely want to get into sound engineering someday. Also I find it fun to see how various speakers sound in different rooms, really helps in both my understanding and experience!
What I find strange is in school I didn't learn about all these ancient sites that in my opinion outweigh the Giza pyramids. The Giza pyramids was the only site school went over. Literally hundreds of amazing sites across this planet. Who knows how much is still barried
That's one of mankind's biggest strengths: As long as we had enough experience with it, we don't need to understand HOW something works to harness and use it. how acoustics or farming worked on a scientific level was not neccessary to know, we had MILLENNIA to find out how to build and farm and THEN we had centuries to find out WHY we did it that way
I sang at Epidaurus, very cool! A visiting professor clapped around the stage while we sat far up the stands, the closer his hands got to the centre of the stage, the louder it seemed. When his hands were just over the centre of the stage, it was like someone clapping in your ear! I also sang inside the beehive tombs of Mycenae, where the sound was amplified incredibly! A funeral held inside one must have been an experience!
I love the idea that people through out ages have always liked to build and make cool or interesting stuff. The same joy I and most kids around the world archived from discovering how fun it is to yell in tunnels, human history have been filled with but with their realities equivalents.
Quick comment about the brains filling in the missing sound. There is an incredible book called “your brain on music” where in one of the chapters they discuss experimental evidence showing that our brain does fill in missing notes while listening to music. ❤️
This phenomenon has been used by organ builders since the late 18th or early 19th centuries. If you don't have room (or funding) to build a 32' or 64' stop, you use shorter pipes that sound the harmonics that would be produced by longer pipes. Your brain just fills in the missing fundamental. They're called "resultant stops." Psychoacoustics is a fascinating field.
Also jazz musicians leave out the 5th of a chord since the brain fills that in. It is the harmonic series: fundamental, octave, fifth, (2nd) octave, third, etc.... Strangely enough, the overtone series stretches out to become the blues scale.
@@Tazy50 temples and their pillars are literally there to see and hear. it is not a claim but some prejudiced people like to bring claims by some nutjob to deny the existence of real things. Gtugdjk says "yes ancient Greeks had space travel according Greek mythology " . So STFU.
I would like to see some episodes on old architecture ways that help to cool the building without the use of an air conditioner. Such as layout designs for best airflow and materials used that allow for buildings to be cooler inside as one would get with stone constructions
I believe they did one of those! I will check my playlists, and see if I can locate it. If I do, I'll come back and let you know the title so you can search for it. 🙂
Congratulations! You have won the Acoustical Society of America's Science Communication Award for Non-acoustic Expert Multimedia Great video and hreat application of acoustics
So, in the book "The Long Earth", there's a scene with two university students who have come out to some remote standing stones to test the acoustic of the stones themselves, but I didn't know that was an actual branch of archeology till now
I've been watching the SciShow for about a year and I'm here just to say how much I appreciate Hank's effort when pronouncing Chichén Itzá, El Castillo, Quetzal, Chavín de Huántar, Lanzón. Nicely done for a non-native Spanish speaker, man! 🙌🏽
While it’s unlikely the ancient folks who designed and built these sites knew the underlying physics at play to the same level we do, there’s little doubt in my mind that the acoustics were intentional. I would posit that many of the phenomena were accidentally discovered at first, and then once the geometries involved in creating them were understood, the civilizations that made them reproduced them at a larger scale. Bear in mind that most ancient ruins that have survived the eons were important, culturally significant structures and were built to higher standards, with more detail, better materials, and superior craftsmen than typical structures. The stone monuments survive, but the average family’s wooden house does not. It’s logical for these central structures to have intentional, special acoustical properties just as we do with important cultural venues today. Tl;dr: It’s difficult to right off special acoustical phenomena popping up at important ancient cultural sites and monuments across civilizations and time repeatedly as being accidental.
I agree. They may have simply experienced the effects in natural caves and so on, and they might never have had quite the kind of technical terms we have now. But they would have known the basic "this shape of a wall makes the voice echo" quite well. And, because these were all "public spaces" in a sense - spaces intended for important social/emotional/religious happenings - they would indeed have had the best minds, the best hands, the best materials available. I would add to this - every one of these examples were designed to mystify, to enhance emotional responses AND to inspire a deep sense of awe and wonder. We already know that stone monuments of all sorts were basically always intended to inspire the viewers. Whether that was inspiring awe and respect for a king, or awe and fear of a deity, I think it's plain that a theater, a temple, a henge ALL share in common the wish to evoke strong feelings in their audiences. And so some portion of these designs is literally (sorry for the word play) for effect: precisely designed to get precise effects on the sounds made. Think about it: the builders and the priests were almost certainly better educated than the average layman in attendance at a temple. The layman would have had NO idea about the secret air ducts or special geometries or anything else. How much more powerful would a given event be if you experience sounds like no others you hear in your everyday life? Sounds you CAN'T explain for yourself? If the whole temple plaza is "singing" - could you not believe that the gods themselves are communicating with you? If you knew none of our modern day physics and science, and you heard that, would YOU believe it was just a dude with a conch shell in the basement? Of course not! (To be honest I probably wouldn't believe it even knowing some basic science!) But these are REALLY great examples of some of the best minds of their respective times. Us humans are pretty nifty from time to time. And we sound good too!
How could they not understand the physics. Sorry but you don’t start carving and laying stone unless you have a design and a plan. No way they threw a bunch of stone together then sat around tweaking the stones to achieve an effect. It makes no sense. Archimedes In Sicily knew more physics than 99% of American high school students.
There are temples having musical pillars and tombs having echo chambers that amplify the slightest of whispers here in India. May be a similar topic of interest for you guys.
In India, Golconda Fort, Gol Gumbaz, several monuments built by Mughals (eg Akbar's Tomb) have been acoustically designed If you speak in one part of the structure, a person standing several hundred feet away in designated locations can hear him speak
Not Only That, There Were Amazing Indian Temples That Consists Of Musical Pillars Such As: 1) Vijaya Vithala temple of 15th century in Hampi, Karnataka. 2) Madurai Meenakshi temple in 16th century, Tamil Nadu. 3) Suchindram Thanumalayan temple in 17th century, Tamil Nadu. ...That Were Capable Of Producing Wonderful Musical Notes Through Tapping Or Blowing Action Available For Everyone! It's Literally Incredible How Our Ancestors Are Capable Of Such Sophisticated Understanding Of Engineering Despite The Lack Of Assistance Of Modern Technology, But Only Through The Ingenuity Of Their Own Back In Their Time!
@@maxplaysgamez-sharesgaming1756 Thnx bhai. I had no idea. Out of the three u mentioned, I have visited Meenakshi Temple only. But I don't remember seeing any musical pillars. Maybe bcoz I didn't explore the entire temple complex (its fricking huge)
We JUST talked about the theatre of Epidaurus in my music history class last week! Awesome to see a video like this from scishow, especially as someone who is studying music education in undergrad, and misses taking science classes so watches scishow all the time :)
Been on Epidaurus and on other ancient greek theaters and as a greek I have to say that I am very proud of these structures and how they have been so well preserved during the centuries! Plus the acoustic is amazing!
We have a very beautiful and well preserved Roman theater in my town. The singers that perform there indeed sound excellent. I dare say, they sound better than in an actual modern stage. Romans sure knew how to build them. Our modern theaters are already falling apart, even the new ones, but this single 2000 year old theater is still standing. Really makes you think.
Hypogeum is worth a trip to Malta all by itself. Prepare for a mind blowing assortment of ancient structures, some older than the pyramids or Stonehenge, in a country the size of the city of Detroit.
I was so surprised to hear him mentioning Malta, my home. I myself have never even been to the hypogeum as they only allow a limited number of people to access per year, so you have to plan your visit early
Music was important to earlier people in history, that's why drums and wood (wind) pipes were always used in ceremonies...This is very interesting although I knew this cause I love historical sites and how people built with rocks...✌😷👋
So these ancient structures created by ancient peoples with astounding precision in their stonework produce unusual acoustics, in one case producing a sound very similar to the call of a bird sacred to the builders and we wanna say we can't be sure if the acoustics were intentional or a happy accident? I know the scientific process is about having an idea about a thing and then doing every test imaginable to prove the idea wrong or right, with many scientists being more excited about being proven wrong over being proven right, but it seems a little silly to me to think that these builders built these amazing structures and just accidentally produced these unique acoustical phenomena. Especially when some of these sites are conducted in the name of religious worship. Nothing motivates a people like faith and the ancient people were a lot more sophisticated than modern times want to give them credit for.
These designs weren't an accident just as the universe did not evolve by accident therefore it must have been created by a creator just like these designs, created by men.
You can not prove an idea (read: theory) right. But I am with you on this. These ancient people had the same physical and mental capacity as us. They didn't have electricity, no internet, no cranes, but they sure had a lot of knowledge and this was their entertainment. These theaters and places of worship were their youtube/TVs/cinemas. Of course they put all their brain power into building them to get the best experience. Just like we put all our brain power into getting the best sound quality from tiny headphones and the most fluid animations on the most brilliant, colorful displays in the palm of our hands and what not. Joe Scott recently made a video where he analyzed how long our human traces would last. Guess what: After just about 10k years, you'd barely recognize that we even existed. So I think it's plausible a LOT of the lifestyle and knowledge and even artifacts from ancient times are completely missing, so we assume all they had were those stone structures that we can see today. There was way more. Here's the video: ruclips.net/video/xtJ49gXWwA0/видео.html
Bruh I know right!! The sound on the structure mimicks the sound of the bird Quetzal, and their deity, Quetzalcoatl is named after it!! It's like they think we're dumb and ancient people couldn't possibly be smart enough to create something so intricate. It pisses me off lmao
Right. It is beyond comprehension to undermine these ancient civilizations intelligence and awe-inspiring structures just because we no longer possess the same knowledge they once had. Instead of trying to deny their intelligence, we need to aspire in achieving our own intelligence to the same level.
It’s funny because as a musician I also really loved this. I always knew there were two kinds of people watching this channel... actual scientists/engineers and stoners 😂
I get so excited when I see a new discovery in the area of frequency and sound. With how prevalent it's been in worship and such, I wonder if we might rediscover a facet to sound we've lost since the stone age.
@@craigb8228 I don’t want to say I believe one way or the other but I’m very hopeful that it’s true and it’ll be rediscovered some time in the near future.
I remember when I visited the theater of Epidaurus, the guide threw a coin on the stage while I was way up high and I could hear that sound very clearly.
I remember taking the tour at Hoover Dam and freaking out the tour when I would hum and set up a standing wave in the tunnel. I small hum at the right frequency made a very loud noise. The Hoover gods were very kind that day... :-)
I visited Epidaurus many years ago and remember that while standing in the uppermost bleachers you could easily hear the sound of footsteps on the gravel in the performance area.
I had the pleasure of clapping at Chichen Itza in 2012. Also, next to the temple is a Pok-Ta-Pok court, where they played a Mayan sport that requires bouncing a ball off of the player's hip through a hoop; apparently, the ball bounce echoes on the temple and sounds even more like a bird than a clap does.
I saw a "football' field like this in the Anthropology museum of Mexico city ( they even had a rubber ball in the exhibit) but the game was very brutal and many people were killed.
I took a class that briefly touched on stuff like this and I LOVED it so THANK YOU for making this video ♥ I want to share it with everyone even though I know they're not as nerdy as I am about music and sound 😂
The ball court at Chichen Itza has a really cool acoustic element. There are throne seats on either end of the court. If you talk to the back wall of these areas, your voice will heard clearly on the other end. I have experienced this myself when I visited.
A few years back, I was privileged to watch a performance of Carmen in the large Roman Amphitheatre, in Verona. The whole event was delivered acoustically, without the use of electronic amplification. The sound quality was excellent.
as an audio engineer, sound designer, singer and voice over artist, a few things: 1) resonance is everything. a couple mentions isnt enough. 2) talking about specific individual frequencies without also referring to the harmonic series is quite sophomoric. Frequencies that invoke brain activity in language vs emotion is ... just not a thing. Language is all the frequencies, emotion is all the frequencies. Sine waves (waves of singular frequencies and no harmonics) don't occur in nature, so our brains didn't evolve to respond to them specifically. 3) wind produces ALL frequencies, just at different amplitudes (see pink noise vs white noise). whispering is almost exclusively 1.5 kHz and higher. 4) All human voices, male and female, of all voice types produce fundamental frequencies below 500 Hz. The harmonic series accounts for vowel intelligibility. consonants are almost exclusively 4kHz and higher.
My good friend, who has a lovely tenor speaking voice, has performed at Epidarus. He said the experience was incredible! Every utterance carried to the very back row.
It really seems like the ancients from the deep past are trying to communicate with the future simply via the mathematical patterns expressed via their architecture; astronomical alignments that model (among other things) procession and size of the earth, acoustics, golden ratios, cryptic messages or "we exist," fibbanacci sequences and more all stretching back as far as ten thousand years ago or more. It's really fascinating and continuously throwing a wrench in our understanding of the human story. To me it's most exciting frontier of discovery on our planet.
There’s plenty of reason to doubt that the greeks knew about the physics and science involved with the theatre on a technical level, but I would say that the observation of two similar sounds cancelling each other out or amplifying one another based on their distance from one another is something anyone with the need to look into that, such as an acoustics architect, could reasonably find with some simple experiments. If this is the case, then said archetect would have lined the steps at the distance he found best for reducing background noise. This would be my hypothesis, which obviously needs evidence to support it (which is probably non-existent).
I was thinking either that, or more often, ancient architects would mimic eachothers work, so if one just happened to build a theater that amplified the right sounds, others would be more likely to copy it, and over time they'd improve.
Seriously.... If you've never heard/watched Pink Floyd's Live from Pompeii, you're really missing out on a great audio experience, even though it was recorded in the 70's, the sound is phenomenal.
‼️❓ I never even heard of acoustic archeology! That is so incredibly cool and fascinating! It's so _very_ interesting to think they may have already understood how acoustics work! Thank you very much for this one, especially, and for all you do, Hank, et al!
The Mary Hill Stone Henge in Mary Hill, Washington is definitely worth visiting. Its a short stop but pretty cool. While you are there, also check out the Mary Hill Art Museum just down the road from it.
the throne hall at Persepolis apparently also had unique acoustic and light amplifying design considerations. Highly polished and densely packed colonnade and a very high ceiling allowed for the king to speak to a large audience without having to raise his voice.
[03:42] Converting a sharp pulse into a long drawn chirp is a process that has applications in things like radar signal processing. Interestingly, electrical signals are often converted into acoustic ones and processed using these same principles in what are called Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices.
We have a similar thing to Chichen Itza in the town I live in. We call it the clap and squeak. Stand in the middle on this circle, clap, and it comes back as a squeak sound. You can only hear it if you stand directly in the middle, otherwise it just sounds like a clap.
Regarding Epidaurus: Wouldn't the sound waves mainly be bouncing off people in a packed theatre? The way Hank talks about how sound is reflected by the steps makes it sound like the theatre was constructed to be used without an audience.
Another example of a waveguide is a section at Grand Central where you can stand in the corner and speak and a person at the opposite corner will be able to hear you quite clearly. I remember trying this out as a kid and being amazed. Not an ancient structure but still pretty cool.
cool information as always. Besides the quetzal sound, on the same there is a massive sports field ( the one they use their hips to hit a ball). They have accoustics similar to the greek theatre shown. Basically you can stand in front and very away from the lets calls the referee chair and you can hear loud and clear . yep from very far away you can hear now tourist chatting if they are located on that spot... if they moved, then you cannot hear hear them now. pretty cool a visit to chichen is very well recomended. Also I remember watching an old probably early 2000 discovery channel doc on regards to the quetzal sound, they matched both soundwaves almost perfectly. pretty cool
The original chamber for the US House of Representatives was like the stone hinge example-is, it still exists and you can take a tour to see it. It’s shaped to amplify the voices at regular speaking volume so that you can hear someone in the opposite corner as crystal clearly as if they were right up in your face. It’s eerie and effective.
Oh cool. That Stonehenge park isn’t too far from where I live. Totally surprised me when we drove by it once lol. I’m going to check that out next time we go to WA.
The range of human hearing ranges from 20hz to 20,000hz. It is most sensitive in the range of 2000-5000hz of which 500hz is a common multiple. As you say in the video, most noise is below 500hz which would make it an ideal roll off point for unwanted frequencies. As the 3 octaves above that cutoff contain the frequencies we are most sensitive to.
I remember going to chitchen izta (Ik I just butchered that spelling), hearing that noise again just sent shivers down my spine. So cool but so strange. It’s unreal.
So ancient people definitely had more knowledge of sound and architecture than we currently give them credit for. could also be evidence for ancient people being in more connection with each other than previously thought where they share or traded knowledge
many temples in India have very unique acoustic properties to their architecture, like temple with musical pillars or the hall where one can hear slightest whispers of people on the ground floor while standing on top floor. it can have a video of it's own
Another interesting exploration of sound and acoustics. One small point: rather than referring to acoustic/architectural phenomena with religious/spiritual language, might it be helpful to refer to them as community creating/enhancing/bonding phenomena, an extension of the human voice.. And possibly consider sound/acoustics is an ancient tool just as we use electricity.
I suspect that in most, or maybe all of these cases the acoustics were not planned in the original design, but when the phenomenon was discovered during or perhaps after construction efforts where made to enhance the effect.
Sci Show: discusses diffraction. Also Sci Show: shows a clip of water droplets forming waves which does not show diffraction. Love your content, though, guys :)
Also they keep sating diffraction and then showing examples of reflection. Wikipedia says: "Diffraction refers to various phenomena that occur when a wave encounters an obstacle or opening. It is defined as the bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. " - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction That is decidedly not what they talked about for the theatre and pyramid segments.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Several years ago I took a summer course on ancient Greek theatre that involved traveling around Greece and visiting various theatres and archeological sites, and I will never forget what it was like being in the theatron at Epidaurus while my professor stood in the orchestra and performed a section of the Iliad in ancient Greek. It was utterly eerie and the closest thing I've ever experienced to time travel (and also the site is chock full of very friendly cats, 10/10). Thanks for the fascinating video!
Hi Bobbie, that sounds like a great experience. I am used to travelling around with fam all over Greece to explore our history. Can I ask the name of that course? Would be great to travel with a bigger group including archaeologists.
@@helenastat3510 Hi Helen! Alas I was in undergrad at the time and it was a course I took through my university in Canada, which I don't think is even offered there anymore. It was all students and professors from the school who traveled abroad for a month.
@@bobbie7618thanks Bobbie, yeah, I figured that. Would be great if something like this existed for non undergrads. Take care.
Helen Thomas Check out Road Scholar, they have some fantastic educational tours and trips all over the world!
When I was in Epidaurus about 15 years ago, there happened to be an opera singer in a group of tourists who sang a short piece. It was magical.
I remember reading about how cave paintings are done in such a way as to produce a form of moving picture when illuminated by fire. How about a show on that?
That would be fascinating.
I’ve never heard of that. Sounds good.
Painting with light? You're looking at it.
I've never heard of that, but I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to carve slits in a hollow log or a gourd, suspend it on a string above a fire and spin it quickly to achieve that kind of effect
@@francois-xavierdessureault8039 No, thy were painted in such a way that as the fire flickered, different colors would come into prominence and create a sort of animation. Sorry I can't remember where/when I saw it.
I have played my violin in several Greek amphitheatres and modern performance venues really can't compare. I enjoyed Epidarus, but my absolute favourite amphitheatre is at Ephesus. I don't really have words for the experience of playing there. What I can say is that I spent over 5 hours playing. Someday I hope to do a live recording there. It's such a remarkable space.
I hope you get that opportunity.
What kind of music do you play, if you don't mind my curiosity? I really enjoy classical music on stringed instruments of all kinds, personally. 😊
@@MaryAnnNytowl I trained classically, but these days I am predominantly a fiddler. I play most Canadian styles, though I tend to favour Cape Breton fiddling.
When I went to Ephesus, I didn't play anything in particular, I just improvised. It was remarkable. If you want to listen to an amazing album, check out Oliver Schroer's Camino. It's a collection of improvised music he recorded in various small chapels and churches along the Camino de Santiago. You can hear the shape of the space he's playing in. Absolutely incredible.
There is something about those kinds of spaces that pick up the music and lift it into something truly special.
I’d be interested in seeing more episodes about acoustics and architecture.
yes and send Miranda to test them
Ditto
That's engineering, not architecture
With actual examples of the sounds, if possible
This guy is on point
That piramid in Chichenitza Is the Temple of Kukulcán. El castillo Is the name given by Spaniard conquistadors. But everyone there knows it by the former (and cooler) one.
+
@XORRE @XORRE Hahaha, no. "El Castillo Pyramid" is, literally, "The Castle Pyramid". It not only sounds silly and grammatically weird, it also paints a very ridiculous mental image.
@XORRE It sounds horrible 😭
@XORRE 🤡🤡🤡
@XORRE yep
We tend to forget that just because ancient peoples were not as technologically advanced as we are now, they were still just as smart. Trial and error are powerful tools.
Honestly, intelligence was far more necessary for the survival of our ancestors than for ourselves. We could very well be getting less intelligent at this point.
Jarrett Benning I have thought the same thing myself. Nowadays most workers are doing the same task over and over, when I worked in retail it was mind numbing. Even many educated people specialize in only one field. Meanwhile hunter gatherers had to understand every part of their environment and become skilled at a wide variety of jobs.
Its still mind boggling to me that most of the architecture that was created in South America was done without the use of wheels. They hadn't been invented yet nor did they get imported until much later.
blksmagma Actually, they apparently had little toys with wheels, it's just not practical to *use* wheels to transport much of anything on winding narrow trails up mountains through rainforests.
We have lost about 10cc of brain mass since the dawn of civilization, from 60cc to 50cc according to theories based on the brain cavity size in ancestral humans. (Saw in documentary, need citation)
This is so damn fascinating for us music producers / sound engineers. In those structures, we see (and hear lol) things, like phasing, pitching, reverb etc, that we do in our studio with computers and other gear, happening physically in the real world!
I was thinking, "I wonder if there's any IR, impulse response files floating around of these places?"
Would be really cool to use in some music !
@@BRUXXUS haha yeah, there might be out there. But i'm pretty sure you can get pretty close with just normal reverbs, delays and filters! Of course if you somehow hear some recording of these places
This comment ☝
I agree that learning stuff like this is a big help, definitely want to get into sound engineering someday.
Also I find it fun to see how various speakers sound in different rooms, really helps in both my understanding and experience!
As an Applied Acoustics student myself, this is probably my favourite video now
And to think the Temple of Kukulcán's echos are really close to the chirping of what a Quetzal sounds like. Ahhh
One you have every right to be proud of, I think!
What I find strange is in school I didn't learn about all these ancient sites that in my opinion outweigh the Giza pyramids. The Giza pyramids was the only site school went over. Literally hundreds of amazing sites across this planet. Who knows how much is still barried
That's one of mankind's biggest strengths: As long as we had enough experience with it, we don't need to understand HOW something works to harness and use it. how acoustics or farming worked on a scientific level was not neccessary to know, we had MILLENNIA to find out how to build and farm and THEN we had centuries to find out WHY we did it that way
biggest strength and biggest weakness as it also leads us into trouble quite often.
That’s how fermentation came about - cheese, beer, wine, etc - all without knowing what was going on on the microbial scale.
@@JustinMoralesTheComposer and somebody brave enough to eat/drink them
I sang at Epidaurus, very cool! A visiting professor clapped around the stage while we sat far up the stands, the closer his hands got to the centre of the stage, the louder it seemed. When his hands were just over the centre of the stage, it was like someone clapping in your ear!
I also sang inside the beehive tombs of Mycenae, where the sound was amplified incredibly! A funeral held inside one must have been an experience!
I love the idea that people through out ages have always liked to build and make cool or interesting stuff.
The same joy I and most kids around the world archived from discovering how fun it is to yell in tunnels, human history have been filled with but with their realities equivalents.
Quick comment about the brains filling in the missing sound.
There is an incredible book called “your brain on music” where in one of the chapters they discuss experimental evidence showing that our brain does fill in missing notes while listening to music. ❤️
This phenomenon has been used by organ builders since the late 18th or early 19th centuries. If you don't have room (or funding) to build a 32' or 64' stop, you use shorter pipes that sound the harmonics that would be produced by longer pipes. Your brain just fills in the missing fundamental. They're called "resultant stops."
Psychoacoustics is a fascinating field.
Also jazz musicians leave out the 5th of a chord since the brain fills that in. It is the harmonic series: fundamental, octave, fifth, (2nd) octave, third, etc.... Strangely enough, the overtone series stretches out to become the blues scale.
In orchestra, when wind instruments have long runs of 16th notes, a note here or there left out to catch a breath is definitely filled in. It’s wild.
I've found two books with that title, being the authors Laura Saunders and Daniel Levitin. Which one would be?
That is very interesting. Thank you! I will look up the book, and appreciate you sharing the reference with us. :D
There are Musical pillars in Indian temples that are acoustically designed.
inb4 some guy named Ranjinandu Pragnanandamiswamigamalundanathan says "yes ancient indians had space travel according to Vedas"
@@Tazy50 temples and their pillars are literally there to see and hear. it is not a claim but some prejudiced people like to bring claims by some nutjob to deny the existence of real things.
Gtugdjk says "yes ancient Greeks had space travel according Greek mythology " . So STFU.
I think I read a book about that in high school ;)
I would like to see some episodes on old architecture ways that help to cool the building without the use of an air conditioner. Such as layout designs for best airflow and materials used that allow for buildings to be cooler inside as one would get with stone constructions
I believe they did one of those! I will check my playlists, and see if I can locate it. If I do, I'll come back and let you know the title so you can search for it. 🙂
Congratulations! You have won the
Acoustical Society of America's Science Communication Award for Non-acoustic Expert Multimedia
Great video and hreat application of acoustics
I think this is one of the coolest scishow episodes ever
So, in the book "The Long Earth", there's a scene with two university students who have come out to some remote standing stones to test the acoustic of the stones themselves, but I didn't know that was an actual branch of archeology till now
I've been watching the SciShow for about a year and I'm here just to say how much I appreciate Hank's effort when pronouncing Chichén Itzá, El Castillo, Quetzal, Chavín de Huántar, Lanzón. Nicely done for a non-native Spanish speaker, man! 🙌🏽
Those aren't even Spanish words dipshit. As a white American guy I feel so honored whenever I hear someone pronounce "burrito" correctly.
While it’s unlikely the ancient folks who designed and built these sites knew the underlying physics at play to the same level we do, there’s little doubt in my mind that the acoustics were intentional. I would posit that many of the phenomena were accidentally discovered at first, and then once the geometries involved in creating them were understood, the civilizations that made them reproduced them at a larger scale. Bear in mind that most ancient ruins that have survived the eons were important, culturally significant structures and were built to higher standards, with more detail, better materials, and superior craftsmen than typical structures. The stone monuments survive, but the average family’s wooden house does not. It’s logical for these central structures to have intentional, special acoustical properties just as we do with important cultural venues today.
Tl;dr: It’s difficult to right off special acoustical phenomena popping up at important ancient cultural sites and monuments across civilizations and time repeatedly as being accidental.
Hear, hear! This is exactly what I thought when watching the video. Just calling it an accident by that point is kind of insulting to our ancestors.
I agree. They may have simply experienced the effects in natural caves and so on, and they might never have had quite the kind of technical terms we have now. But they would have known the basic "this shape of a wall makes the voice echo" quite well. And, because these were all "public spaces" in a sense - spaces intended for important social/emotional/religious happenings - they would indeed have had the best minds, the best hands, the best materials available.
I would add to this - every one of these examples were designed to mystify, to enhance emotional responses AND to inspire a deep sense of awe and wonder.
We already know that stone monuments of all sorts were basically always intended to inspire the viewers. Whether that was inspiring awe and respect for a king, or awe and fear of a deity, I think it's plain that a theater, a temple, a henge ALL share in common the wish to evoke strong feelings in their audiences. And so some portion of these designs is literally (sorry for the word play) for effect: precisely designed to get precise effects on the sounds made. Think about it: the builders and the priests were almost certainly better educated than the average layman in attendance at a temple. The layman would have had NO idea about the secret air ducts or special geometries or anything else. How much more powerful would a given event be if you experience sounds like no others you hear in your everyday life? Sounds you CAN'T explain for yourself? If the whole temple plaza is "singing" - could you not believe that the gods themselves are communicating with you? If you knew none of our modern day physics and science, and you heard that, would YOU believe it was just a dude with a conch shell in the basement? Of course not! (To be honest I probably wouldn't believe it even knowing some basic science!)
But these are REALLY great examples of some of the best minds of their respective times. Us humans are pretty nifty from time to time. And we sound good too!
How could they not understand the physics. Sorry but you don’t start carving and laying stone unless you have a design and a plan. No way they threw a bunch of stone together then sat around tweaking the stones to achieve an effect. It makes no sense.
Archimedes In Sicily knew more physics than 99% of American high school students.
There are temples having musical pillars and tombs having echo chambers that amplify the slightest of whispers here in India. May be a similar topic of interest for you guys.
I really would like to be able to hear acoustic examples for each site contained within this video
Fascinating to get a glimpse of past lives, civilizations and how the world looked waaay back
In India, Golconda Fort, Gol Gumbaz, several monuments built by Mughals (eg Akbar's Tomb) have been acoustically designed
If you speak in one part of the structure, a person standing several hundred feet away in designated locations can hear him speak
Not Only That, There Were Amazing Indian Temples That Consists Of Musical Pillars Such As:
1) Vijaya Vithala temple of 15th century in Hampi, Karnataka.
2) Madurai Meenakshi temple in 16th century, Tamil Nadu.
3) Suchindram Thanumalayan temple in 17th century, Tamil Nadu.
...That Were Capable Of Producing Wonderful Musical Notes Through Tapping Or Blowing Action Available For Everyone!
It's Literally Incredible How Our Ancestors Are Capable Of Such Sophisticated Understanding Of Engineering Despite The Lack Of Assistance Of Modern Technology, But Only Through The Ingenuity Of Their Own Back In Their Time!
@@maxplaysgamez-sharesgaming1756 Thnx bhai. I had no idea. Out of the three u mentioned, I have visited Meenakshi Temple only. But I don't remember seeing any musical pillars. Maybe bcoz I didn't explore the entire temple complex (its fricking huge)
Lucky for Mughals they had the Indians to engineer and construct their structures.
@@TheFourthWinchester Umm....The Mughals are Indians (except the Babur, the founder)
@@Bhatakti_Hawas www.nativeplanet.com/travel-guide/musical-pillars-in-south-india-002021.html
I personally get this kind of vibe that you're describing in the last structure, when I listen to music like Heilung, Wardruna and the like.
Acoustic archeology sounds like a good song or novel.
I dig it man !
There are also acoustic weapons which can cause terrible pain.
We JUST talked about the theatre of Epidaurus in my music history class last week! Awesome to see a video like this from scishow, especially as someone who is studying music education in undergrad, and misses taking science classes so watches scishow all the time :)
Been on Epidaurus and on other ancient greek theaters and as a greek I have to say that I am very proud of these structures and how they have been so well preserved during the centuries! Plus the acoustic is amazing!
We have a very beautiful and well preserved Roman theater in my town. The singers that perform there indeed sound excellent. I dare say, they sound better than in an actual modern stage.
Romans sure knew how to build them. Our modern theaters are already falling apart, even the new ones, but this single 2000 year old theater is still standing. Really makes you think.
Hypogeum is worth a trip to Malta all by itself. Prepare for a mind blowing assortment of ancient structures, some older than the pyramids or Stonehenge, in a country the size of the city of Detroit.
I was so surprised to hear him mentioning Malta, my home. I myself have never even been to the hypogeum as they only allow a limited number of people to access per year, so you have to plan your visit early
Music was important to earlier people in history, that's why drums and wood (wind) pipes were always used in ceremonies...This is very interesting although I knew this cause I love historical sites and how people built with rocks...✌😷👋
Love learning about the wild sciences ancient civilizations figured out early
So, how was your last research project?
- I was screaming at a replica of Stonehenge all day
Hahahhahhhaa! Good one!
So these ancient structures created by ancient peoples with astounding precision in their stonework produce unusual acoustics, in one case producing a sound very similar to the call of a bird sacred to the builders and we wanna say we can't be sure if the acoustics were intentional or a happy accident?
I know the scientific process is about having an idea about a thing and then doing every test imaginable to prove the idea wrong or right, with many scientists being more excited about being proven wrong over being proven right, but it seems a little silly to me to think that these builders built these amazing structures and just accidentally produced these unique acoustical phenomena.
Especially when some of these sites are conducted in the name of religious worship. Nothing motivates a people like faith and the ancient people were a lot more sophisticated than modern times want to give them credit for.
These designs weren't an accident just as the universe did not evolve by accident therefore it must have been created by a creator just like these designs, created by men.
You can not prove an idea (read: theory) right.
But I am with you on this. These ancient people had the same physical and mental capacity as us. They didn't have electricity, no internet, no cranes, but they sure had a lot of knowledge and this was their entertainment. These theaters and places of worship were their youtube/TVs/cinemas.
Of course they put all their brain power into building them to get the best experience. Just like we put all our brain power into getting the best sound quality from tiny headphones and the most fluid animations on the most brilliant, colorful displays in the palm of our hands and what not.
Joe Scott recently made a video where he analyzed how long our human traces would last. Guess what: After just about 10k years, you'd barely recognize that we even existed. So I think it's plausible a LOT of the lifestyle and knowledge and even artifacts from ancient times are completely missing, so we assume all they had were those stone structures that we can see today. There was way more. Here's the video: ruclips.net/video/xtJ49gXWwA0/видео.html
In the end it's still speculation. You can't say it was on accident or on purpose for sure without some proof.
Bruh I know right!! The sound on the structure mimicks the sound of the bird Quetzal, and their deity, Quetzalcoatl is named after it!! It's like they think we're dumb and ancient people couldn't possibly be smart enough to create something so intricate. It pisses me off lmao
Right. It is beyond comprehension to undermine these ancient civilizations intelligence and awe-inspiring structures just because we no longer possess the same knowledge they once had. Instead of trying to deny their intelligence, we need to aspire in achieving our own intelligence to the same level.
If you drop a coin in the centre of the stage in Epidauros the sound will carry up to the very last steps of the theatre, I have heard it.
That's very interesting to me as a structural engineer. Thank you for this type of video. Keep up the good work!
how did you watch the whole video!!
@@chloepeifly not
It’s funny because as a musician I also really loved this. I always knew there were two kinds of people watching this channel... actual scientists/engineers and stoners 😂
@@lelandshennett it's interesting what engineers and musicians have in common!
I get so excited when I see a new discovery in the area of frequency and sound. With how prevalent it's been in worship and such, I wonder if we might rediscover a facet to sound we've lost since the stone age.
I truly believe in the Tibetan Art of levitation with sound.
@@craigb8228 I don’t want to say I believe one way or the other but I’m very hopeful that it’s true and it’ll be rediscovered some time in the near future.
That was even more interesting than I expected.
Great video as usual. I love the quick doses of information and everything they generally provide... Love the SciShow programs ❤️
Sounds wonderful
I remember when I visited the theater of Epidaurus, the guide threw a coin on the stage while I was way up high and I could hear that sound very clearly.
This is probably my favorite scishow episode that i've seen.
All of this would partly explain why throat-singing spans cultures across the globe.
I remember taking the tour at Hoover Dam and freaking out the tour when I would hum and set up a standing wave in the tunnel. I small hum at the right frequency made a very loud noise. The Hoover gods were very kind that day... :-)
I had no idea this branch of study existed. Thank you so much!
Been to the Stonehenge replica, can confirm, so cool.
I visited Epidaurus many years ago and remember that while standing in the uppermost bleachers you could easily hear the sound of footsteps on the gravel in the performance area.
I had the pleasure of clapping at Chichen Itza in 2012. Also, next to the temple is a Pok-Ta-Pok court, where they played a Mayan sport that requires bouncing a ball off of the player's hip through a hoop; apparently, the ball bounce echoes on the temple and sounds even more like a bird than a clap does.
I saw a "football' field like this in the Anthropology museum of Mexico city ( they even had a rubber ball in the exhibit) but the game was very brutal and many people were killed.
I took a class that briefly touched on stuff like this and I LOVED it so THANK YOU for making this video ♥ I want to share it with everyone even though I know they're not as nerdy as I am about music and sound 😂
The ball court at Chichen Itza has a really cool acoustic element. There are throne seats on either end of the court. If you talk to the back wall of these areas, your voice will heard clearly on the other end. I have experienced this myself when I visited.
A few years back, I was privileged to watch a performance of Carmen in the large Roman Amphitheatre, in Verona. The whole event was delivered acoustically, without the use of electronic amplification. The sound quality was excellent.
Very well written episode. It (and Hank) did a great job of explaining the complicated concepts and giving examples that we lay people can understand!
That was an incredibly interesting episode, keep it up:)
I could listen to him say ‘patutus’ all day :D
gotta love being part of that notification squad :)
as an audio engineer, sound designer, singer and voice over artist, a few things:
1) resonance is everything. a couple mentions isnt enough.
2) talking about specific individual frequencies without also referring to the harmonic series is quite sophomoric. Frequencies that invoke brain activity in language vs emotion is ... just not a thing. Language is all the frequencies, emotion is all the frequencies. Sine waves (waves of singular frequencies and no harmonics) don't occur in nature, so our brains didn't evolve to respond to them specifically.
3) wind produces ALL frequencies, just at different amplitudes (see pink noise vs white noise). whispering is almost exclusively 1.5 kHz and higher.
4) All human voices, male and female, of all voice types produce fundamental frequencies below 500 Hz. The harmonic series accounts for vowel intelligibility. consonants are almost exclusively 4kHz and higher.
When I was at the Episkopi Amphitheater on Cyprus, I tested the sound clarity. It was amazing.
This sounds amazing!
Actors in the ancient Hellenic world also wore masks with built in megaphones. It probably helped to increase the frequency.
Dude, I subscribed 30 seconds in, I could tell this was a quality channel. Cool stuff!!
My good friend, who has a lovely tenor speaking voice, has performed at Epidarus. He said the experience was incredible! Every utterance carried to the very back row.
It so interesting that most of these were places of worship! We put more effort when we are thinking of bigger things!
It really seems like the ancients from the deep past are trying to communicate with the future simply via the mathematical patterns expressed via their architecture; astronomical alignments that model (among other things) procession and size of the earth, acoustics, golden ratios, cryptic messages or "we exist," fibbanacci sequences and more all stretching back as far as ten thousand years ago or more. It's really fascinating and continuously throwing a wrench in our understanding of the human story. To me it's most exciting frontier of discovery on our planet.
The acoustics at the Stonehenge replica at Esperance, Western Australia are amazing.
There’s plenty of reason to doubt that the greeks knew about the physics and science involved with the theatre on a technical level, but I would say that the observation of two similar sounds cancelling each other out or amplifying one another based on their distance from one another is something anyone with the need to look into that, such as an acoustics architect, could reasonably find with some simple experiments.
If this is the case, then said archetect would have lined the steps at the distance he found best for reducing background noise. This would be my hypothesis, which obviously needs evidence to support it (which is probably non-existent).
I was thinking either that, or more often, ancient architects would mimic eachothers work, so if one just happened to build a theater that amplified the right sounds, others would be more likely to copy it, and over time they'd improve.
Amazing! I am from Mexico and I didn't know that Chichen Itza pyramid has acoustics properties like those.
Wow, I wasn't expecting you to mention my home island of Malta! Super cool video
The temple with the shells that acts like one big instrument sounds like an amazing Zelda dungeon
Royal Raymond Rife used Herts to heal people. Starforts & cymatics are very interesting as well.
Thank you.
You should do some research on the temple pillars of Hampi, India. Each pillar produces the sound of a different musical instrument.
Seriously.... If you've never heard/watched Pink Floyd's Live from Pompeii, you're really missing out on a great audio experience, even though it was recorded in the 70's, the sound is phenomenal.
‼️❓ I never even heard of acoustic archeology! That is so incredibly cool and fascinating! It's so _very_ interesting to think they may have already understood how acoustics work!
Thank you very much for this one, especially, and for all you do, Hank, et al!
The Mary Hill Stone Henge in Mary Hill, Washington is definitely worth visiting. Its a short stop but pretty cool. While you are there, also check out the Mary Hill Art Museum just down the road from it.
This reminds me of growing up in PaloDuro Canyon.
There is a beautiful outdoor stage there.
the throne hall at Persepolis apparently also had unique acoustic and light amplifying design considerations. Highly polished and densely packed colonnade and a very high ceiling allowed for the king to speak to a large audience without having to raise his voice.
[03:42] Converting a sharp pulse into a long drawn chirp is a process that has applications in things like radar signal processing. Interestingly, electrical signals are often converted into acoustic ones and processed using these same principles in what are called Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices.
We have a similar thing to Chichen Itza in the town I live in. We call it the clap and squeak. Stand in the middle on this circle, clap, and it comes back as a squeak sound. You can only hear it if you stand directly in the middle, otherwise it just sounds like a clap.
I like the idea of humans going "I like this shape. oh look there is a sound side effect "
Regarding Epidaurus: Wouldn't the sound waves mainly be bouncing off people in a packed theatre? The way Hank talks about how sound is reflected by the steps makes it sound like the theatre was constructed to be used without an audience.
4:18 I wonder if the veneration of the Quetzal bird was inspired by the echo of the pyramid instead of the other way around.
Another example of a waveguide is a section at Grand Central where you can stand in the corner and speak and a person at the opposite corner will be able to hear you quite clearly. I remember trying this out as a kid and being amazed. Not an ancient structure but still pretty cool.
cool information as always. Besides the quetzal sound, on the same there is a massive sports field ( the one they use their hips to hit a ball). They have accoustics similar to the greek theatre shown. Basically you can stand in front and very away from the lets calls the referee chair and you can hear loud and clear . yep from very far away you can hear now tourist chatting if they are located on that spot... if they moved, then you cannot hear hear them now. pretty cool a visit to chichen is very well recomended.
Also I remember watching an old probably early 2000 discovery channel doc on regards to the quetzal sound, they matched both soundwaves almost perfectly. pretty cool
Please also cover the acoustics of the silent spots, those places where, by some reason, You speak but no one can hear you
Always interesting, thank you.
The original chamber for the US House of Representatives was like the stone hinge example-is, it still exists and you can take a tour to see it. It’s shaped to amplify the voices at regular speaking volume so that you can hear someone in the opposite corner as crystal clearly as if they were right up in your face. It’s eerie and effective.
Oh cool. That Stonehenge park isn’t too far from where I live. Totally surprised me when we drove by it once lol. I’m going to check that out next time we go to WA.
The barn at my house does that chirp sound when you clap or anything loud like shoot a gun. Crazy
I was hoping you'd do #2, the Chichen Itza one!
The range of human hearing ranges from 20hz to 20,000hz. It is most sensitive in the range of 2000-5000hz of which 500hz is a common multiple.
As you say in the video, most noise is below 500hz which would make it an ideal roll off point for unwanted frequencies. As the 3 octaves above that cutoff contain the frequencies we are most sensitive to.
I remember going to chitchen izta (Ik I just butchered that spelling), hearing that noise again just sent shivers down my spine. So cool but so strange. It’s unreal.
3:13
Clap at the Chicken Pizza and the Chicken shall answer.
So ancient people definitely had more knowledge of sound and architecture than we currently give them credit for. could also be evidence for ancient people being in more connection with each other than previously thought where they share or traded knowledge
many temples in India have very unique acoustic properties to their architecture, like temple with musical pillars or the hall where one can hear slightest whispers of people on the ground floor while standing on top floor. it can have a video of it's own
Another interesting exploration of sound and acoustics. One small point: rather than referring to acoustic/architectural phenomena with religious/spiritual language, might it be helpful to refer to them as community creating/enhancing/bonding phenomena, an extension of the human voice.. And possibly consider sound/acoustics is an ancient tool just as we use electricity.
So interesting, especially as someone studying art history!
This is super interesting and now I have new fun facts to tell all of my friends
My favourite part is when Hank says "Pututu" 🤣
I suspect that in most, or maybe all of these cases the acoustics were not planned in the original design, but when the phenomenon was discovered during or perhaps after construction efforts where made to enhance the effect.
Sci Show: discusses diffraction.
Also Sci Show: shows a clip of water droplets forming waves which does not show diffraction.
Love your content, though, guys :)
Also they keep sating diffraction and then showing examples of reflection.
Wikipedia says: "Diffraction refers to various phenomena that occur when a wave encounters an obstacle or opening. It is defined as the bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. " - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
That is decidedly not what they talked about for the theatre and pyramid segments.
@@AthAthanasius True lol
The only sound I'm interested now is Hank voice that is soothing ^_^