[Aztlan] Fwd: Tikal Questions... Djungel around city?

[3phase]

Von: Sven Röhrig <sven at 3phase.de>
Datum: 3. Februar 2009 03:16:56 MEZ
An: David Lubman <dlubman at dlacoustics.com>
Betreff: Re: [Aztlan] Tikal Questions... Djungel around city?

Hi David,

thats very fascinating and hits very much in the gap for the things i  
am looking for,
but one quesion puzzels me...

> In another You Tube video: "Tikal Sound Son de la Jungle", one can  
> hear
> sounds similar to the Tikal staircase chirps embedded within the  
> cacaphony
> of nature sounds.
>

Has there been anny jungle around the citys? Long years ago i ve read  
a book with some chronics about the advancement of Cortez troups  
towards Tenochtitlán...
There was written that the djungel cleared and the mais filds begun...
and that they had to travel many hours before the city appeard on the  
horizon...
Is it possible that the setting around tikal was cleared with trees  
aswell?
It might have beneficial to dont allow enemys to hide..or wasnt there  
unexpected attacks because wars followd ritual laws?

>
> (Wright's "Fallingwater" house is understood to have deliberately  
> employed
> the sound of its nearby waterfall.)
>
> Could this be another instance of Maya sonic architecture?
>

??? maya architekture? isnt that a new building? inspired by may  
architecture?


There are examples of sonic architecture in europe.

And there are examples that vegetation that adds later might hide the  
initial purpose of a sonic architecture.

One example: In the german city  bremen is a monument for the fallen  
soldiers of world war one, build in 1919, well before the nazis, when  
i resemble it wright.

A masive wall of red bricks, 3 meter high.. in a circle with a  
diameter of maybe 50 meters.. in each stone engraved the name of one  
fallen soldier... the circle is not closed...a maybe 20 degree segment  
is missing what forms the entrance... there is a step around the wall  
in the inside... a massive stone block forms an altar on the oposite  
side of the opening.
The Circle has a great acoustic. a whord whispered at one point at the  
wall can be clearly heard at the other side of the circle.. nice echos  
inside create interesting sound effects when shouting loud or hitting  
a drum.  All the inner surface is covered with gras...

There is an acoustical deadspot 1 meter before the altar... That made  
us suspicious.. We plasterd the inner floor with woodpannels...
And experianced a scary sound effekt..

The echo effect changed totaty... the echo went louder... and  
aditional reflections appeard... sudenly your footsteps was enough to  
excite the building...
And... it sounded like a marching troup, your dead comorades was  
"marching with yo"u.. smoothly decaying to absolute silence in front  
of the altar...
Scary... However its likely that feature of the building is absolutly  
unknown and the martial character of the sound instalation stays  
hidden..
and its culutural context with it.
Further investigations showed that the interiour of the circle was  
originally plastered with stone.

Lookin at the Time 1912 this building well can have been inspired by  
maya architecture. I think the Ballcourt sound of chinchen itza was a  
discussed item back than allready..
or?

thanks for the interesting feedback
Sven

>