Stanford University. This is a sound that is three thousand years old. These are just attention grabbers. This is something that literally has an effect on the human being, even physiologically. These extraordinary shells were discovered by Stanford archaeologist John Rick just ten years ago in Peru. Originally sea creatures, the conchs made their way over the Andes as an object of trade. Today, most of them live in museums. They became ceremonial instruments in the ancient temple of Chavín de Huántar and were used by high priests to rule the civilization that preceded the Incas.

The magic of the shells enchanted music and sound experts, acousticians at Stanford CCRMA (Center for Computer Research and Music and Acoustics). For sound to travel between different sections of the yow, Jonathan Abel and Rick formed a remarkable academic partnership that is now revealing what the impact of those ancient sounds were. World-known experts precisely understand what sound is, how to quantify it, how to study it, break it down, and analyze it. The whole business. And so they thought this would be an ideal place to study prehistoric sounds.

In the interior structure at Chavín, there are a number of corridors, alcoves, and passageways that are very narrow; they're stone block and they have a maze-like floor plan. In addition, there are a number of ventilation shafts that go straight through all of the gallery structures, and what this provides is a very unusual acoustic landscape. I think the most important single thing I've learned is that acoustics is not some sort of soft science. Acoustics is real science.

Using arrays of tiny microphones, Abel and his research team have built intricate models to study where and how those ancient sounds traveled. By analyzing these signals, we can understand the shape of the cell and how the sound from the cell is projected into the space around the cell. That allows us to take these cells and put them into a broader context.

For both Abel and John Rick, it is kind of an academic nirvana, true interdisciplinary science that encompasses everything from the human to the physical. We have theology, anthropology, electrical engineering, signal processing, and acoustics. What more could you ask for? A real scientific base, a real humanistic interpretation, and understanding of where humans have been, and a social science that places all of this in the context of human cultural evolution. It's the best. That's just the academic world in a nutshell.

To Stanford News Service, I'm Jack. For more, please visit us at stanford.edu.