The Mayans engineered the acoustics of the Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza to chirp like the Quetzal bird – but only when you are standing directly in line with the stairs.
source: Jen Lampton /image(PrtSc): James Seale
Scientists have shown how sound waves ricochetting around the tired steps of the El Castillo pyramid create sounds that mimic the sound of the Mexican quetzal bird, a sacred animal in Mayan culture. Here’s a video of our Mayan tour guide (who was amazing!) teaching Nate how to get the Pyramid to chirp back at us.
Constructed around 1100 A.D., the 32,400-square-foot pyramid features four stairways with 91 steps each, which combined with the single step at its entrance totals 365 stairs–the exact number of days in the Mayan calendar.
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The pyramid consists of a series of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. Sculptures of plumed serpents run down the sides of the northern balustrade.
