The Sound of Stonehenge
Scientists built a scale model of Stonehenge as it once stood, and found that voices and music inside it would have rung and carried like in a hall.
What was reported
Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, was built in stages between about 5,000 and 4,000 years ago. Today many stones have fallen or been removed, but when complete, it was a ring of tall stones topped with lintels around an inner horseshoe of giant trilithons.
Its purpose has long been debated, and some have wondered whether sound played a part in the ceremonies held there.
Explanations offered
In 2020, acoustic engineers at the University of Salford built a 1:12 scale model of the complete monument and tested it with sound. They found that inside the ring, voices and music would have been amplified and given a short echo, though sound from outside would have been muffled. Whether the builders intended this is unknown.
- When
- Built about 5,000 to 4,000 years ago; studied in 2020
- Where
- Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England
- Witnesses
- Acoustics researchers
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.