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Is there really a whispering gallery at the Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza, Mexico?

DOI:10.1121/1.4806077
Authors:
David Lubman
David Lubman
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A "whispering gallery" (WG) at the Great Ballcourt (GBC) was first reported during its excavation in the 1920s by American archaeologist Silvanus Morley (1883-1948), Director of the Carnegie Institution's Chichen Itza project. In his 1925 National Geographic article Morley wrote: "Standing in this temple one can speak in a low voice & be heard distinctly at the other end of the court, 500 ft away." Around 2000-2001, queries on AZTLAN, a semi-official Mesoamerican archaeology Internet discussion group, found little or no belief in a WG by mesoamericanists. Some opined that any WG would surely be a design accident or an artifact of ballcourt ageing or reconstruction. They stiffened at the suggestion that the ancient Maya might have possessed the requisite knowledge for intentional design. Was Morley mistaken? Or are modern mesoamericanists missing something? During a tour of Chichen Itza following the fall 2002 joint acoustical meeting in Cancun, Mexico, the author and two of his colleagues convincingly demonstrated a GBC WG to about 100 acousticians and their companions. This paper describes WG phenomena observed at the Great Ballcourt and suggests physical models to explain them. He also presents evidence for intentional design.
Classic Maya Ballcourt at Copan. The sloping aprons of typical classic period ballcourts make them poor candidates for complex sound effects such as whispering galleries and flutter echoes.
Classic Maya Ballcourt at Copan. The sloping aprons of typical classic period ballcourts make them poor candidates for complex sound effects such as whispering galleries and flutter echoes.
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The Great Ballcourt (GBC). Observe that the long playing field and the north and south temples are centered on the ballcourts longitudinal axis. The playing field’s precisely parallel sound -reflecting walls are central to its whispering galleries, and are responsible for other interesting sound effects heard there. The playing field is modeled as a parallel plate acoustic waveguide. Sound from the temple is captured at the playing field entrance and propagates down its longitudinal axis as a plane wave. This prevents the captured wave from weakening by spreading. Propagation losses from the playing field terminus to the receiving temple is relatively low because the terminus is in the nearfield of the receiving temple.
The Great Ballcourt (GBC). Observe that the long playing field and the north and south temples are centered on the ballcourts longitudinal axis. The playing field’s precisely parallel sound -reflecting walls are central to its whispering galleries, and are responsible for other interesting sound effects heard there. The playing field is modeled as a parallel plate acoustic waveguide. Sound from the temple is captured at the playing field entrance and propagates down its longitudinal axis as a plane wave. This prevents the captured wave from weakening by spreading. Propagation losses from the playing field terminus to the receiving temple is relatively low because the terminus is in the nearfield of the receiving temple.
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Ballcourt echoes were represented as speech scrolls , shown by the stray squiggly lines in this classic period ballcourt scene. Houston-Taube wrote: In one image, set in a ballcourt, the artist showed echo effects in architectural spaces through the expedient of stray speech scrolls detached from human lips (Their Fig 14a). The convoluted, tightly bent, and modulated quality of these scrolls may denote echoing intensity of the sound.”
Ballcourt echoes were represented as speech scrolls , shown by the stray squiggly lines in this classic period ballcourt scene. Houston-Taube wrote: In one image, set in a ballcourt, the artist showed echo effects in architectural spaces through the expedient of stray speech scrolls detached from human lips (Their Fig 14a). The convoluted, tightly bent, and modulated quality of these scrolls may denote echoing intensity of the sound.”
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Flutter echo of a handclap made near the center of the playing field are proof that its facing walls are precisely parallel and highly sound reflective. The writer believes these massive walls were not moved in excavation. Since the facing walls display faded original paintings, they too are original surfaces. As shown by the profound flutter echo, the walls are highly sound reflective at voice frequencies [8], [9].
Flutter echo of a handclap made near the center of the playing field are proof that its facing walls are precisely parallel and highly sound reflective. The writer believes these massive walls were not moved in excavation. Since the facing walls display faded original paintings, they too are original surfaces. As shown by the profound flutter echo, the walls are highly sound reflective at voice frequencies [8], [9].
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