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Published online 14 December 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news041213-5
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Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded
Acoustic analysis shows how temple transforms echoes into sounds of nature.
A theory that the ancient Mayans built their pyramids to act as giant resonators to produce strange and evocative echoes has been supported by a team of Belgian scientists.
Nico Declercq of Ghent University and his colleagues have shown how sound waves ricocheting around the tiered steps of the El Castillo pyramid, at the Mayan ruin of Chichén Itzá near Cancún in Mexico, create sounds that mimic the chirp of a bird and the patter of raindrops1.
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