FOR THE BIRD
Today, I am told, you can stand in front of the steps leading up to the impressive Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, in the Yucatan area of Mexico and, when you clap your hands deliberately, a strange echo comes back to you which duplicates the sound of the Mayan sacred bird – the Quetzal.
I wonder. Does this happen by chance or was it “built in “ ... on purpose? I have heard a tape of the actual; bird call and I have listened to another tape of hand claps in front of the ancient temple an it would be difficult for me to tell one from the other. had they not been taped for me.
This unusual bit of acoustical archeology has only recently been discovered and it points up studies of the actual, physical measurements of the pyramid and others like it. An oddity concerning those measurements, too. The risers on the steps are uncomfortably high - far too high for the descendants of the people who built them to climb. Today's natives are short of stature. They cannot walk up the forbiddingly high steps to higher levels. It becomes a task; a real climb.
More details. The two restored side of the pyramid have ninety-two such levels of and because of the thickness of each of those layers of stone, one gets and echo called a” “picket fence” ..intermittent sounds that last about one-tenth of a second. The actual sound of the call of the Quetzal bird is about twice as long - about one-fifth of a second. Studies done of the two un-restored wall surfaces are much weaker. The original, smooth plaster finish is missing on the two side and the are rough and irregular. The site was mysteriously abandoned around 1200 A.D. and historians have yet to come up with a good reason for the sudden departure of the faithful
About that sound: the starting frequency is about 1,310 Hertz and the minimum end frequency is 922 Hz. Sonograms show “a striking resemblance in sound quality, frequency, length and harmonic structure” to the bird call scientists tell us. They agree it seems to be more than mere coincidence as if some one planned it that way. The pyramid's Mayan name was “Temple of Kukkulkan.” The prefix “kuk” has roots in the Mayan name for “Quetzal” which was viewed by the ancient devotee as “the messenger of the Gods.” It may be may the sound is what the old Mayans called “La cola del Quetzal” or, “the “Quetzal's tail”. They used the feathers of the bird for ceremonial purposes; why not make use of the bird's call as well ?
There must be other sounds of history all around us. We should listen for them, I suppose.
The next time you happen to be in the Chichen Itza area, I'd appreciate it if you'd check this one out for me.
A.L.M. September 18, 2003. [c502wds]
