Tests show Stonehenge was the place to raise your voice

Sarah Knapton

STONEHENGE amplified human voices by more than four decibels, scientists have discovered after they built a “mini-henge” to test the acoustics of the megalithic monument.

Researchers at the University of Salford constructed a 1:12 scale model of the Neolithic stone circle to determine how the structure would have altered sound for people standing within it.

The missing stones were added in, based on the latest archaeological data, to recreate the acoustic effect of the original site, comprised of 157 stones when it was erected around 2200BC.

They found that reflections from the stones enhanced musical sounds and speech, making projecting the voice easier and adding more than four decibels to human speech, which is usually around 60 decibels. It also produced no echoes, so making sounds sharper.

The researcher indicates the increase in volume would have allowed someone standing within the outer sarsen circle to hear conversation from the middle with 100 per cent accuracy.

Prof Trevor Cox, from Salford, said: “Constructing the model was very time-consuming, a labour of love, but it has given the most accurate insight into the prehistoric acoustics to date.”

Susan Greaney, of English Heritage, said: “The results show that music, voices or percussion sounds could only really be heard by those standing within the stone circle, suggesting that any rituals that took place there were intimate events.”

The research will be published in the October edition of The Journal of Archaeological Science.