Hal-Saflieni Malta’s Grand Underground Temple

Brú na Bóinne

I didn't know about this underground temple complex on Malta, but being a fan of Brú na Bóinne, it somehow echoes, as it were, with me. (Read below for how sound resonates in the Malta site.)

Here's the official Heritage Malta site for it (and you can buy tickets online there to see it, as well). Hal-Saflieni Malta’sGrand Underground Temple

Here's the Wikipedia entry on Hal-Saflieni

And here, at a site called Realm of History, is the article I discovered by accident. (It has an awful lot of archaeological news, but also a lot of cookies, which it wants you to accept. And note that it says it'll pass your info on to advertizers. So....)

But here is an excerpt that gives a taste of what the Hal-Saflieni "Hypogeum" is like:

Often claimed as being the world’s only known prehistoric underground temple, the branching subterranean complex of Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni in Paola, Malta, is more than 5,000 years old (which makes it older than the Great Pyramid at Giza). Discovered quite unintentionally in 1902, by workers who were digging for a building site, the expanse of the temple was found to be entirely carved from solid limestone. As a matter of fact, the very term hypogeum translates to ‘underground’ in Greek, and as such Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni goes down to a depth of more than 30 ft below ground. And the surprising part is – this herculean task was painstakingly achieved by only the rudimentary technology available to Stone Age people.

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The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni has its fair share of chambers and rooms spread over three levels – so much so that the labyrinth nature of the subterranean temple has dissuaded many an expert from actually measuring the total area of the ‘hypogeum’. However beyond extensive structural engineering, the most incredible feature of this Neolithic complex arguably pertains to its incorporation of special acoustic properties. To that end, one of the chambers and its niche are carved out from limestone (and adorned with red ochre patterns), and the space seemingly demonstrates an acoustic magnification scope. According to some, these properties take mysterious, enchanting and even random routes with surprising sounds booming through the dark caverns and the convoluted passages. Such terrifying yet impressive effects have led to the terming of the room as the Oracle Chamber, where the hidden oracles might have communicated to the visitors via their mystical yet daunting voices aided by the auditory flair.

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Now, a number of research projects have studied and analyzed this seemingly intentional feat of acoustic engineering. Some researchers (like Maltese composer Ruben Zahra and a research team from Italy) have noted how the sound within the chamber resonates at a frequency of 110 Hz, which is similar to effects of other ancient-made compartments, including the Newgrange in Ireland. Interestingly, a study published by Dr. Ian Cook of UCLA and his team showcased how this particular frequency had its ’emotional’ effect on a number of volunteers. This was measured by EEG, and the frequency resonance at 110 Hz was found to affect the activity patterns over the prefrontal cortex. These patterns tended to oddly shift from left to right-sided dominance, thus alluding to the processing of the emotional quotient.

Another project undertaken by the Archaeoacoustics Conference revealed how male voices emanating at two frequencies (114 Hz and 68-70 Hz) can reverberate throughout the whole complex. The same effect was not achieved by female voices, while the continuous utterance of ‘oooh’ by male voices did the resonant trick.