Chavín de Huántar Archaeological Acoustics Project
Initiated in 2007 as an archaeoacoustical collaboration between Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and Archaeology/Anthropology


Above: Chavín "Building A", from South-East.
Photo: José Luis Cruzado Coronel

Sponsors include Meyer Sound, who has provided high–performance loudspeakers for on-site measurement work since 2008, and Countryman Associates, who provided specialized microphones used in our measurements and equipment development since 2008.

Researcher support of Miriam Kolar was provided through her 2014-2015 postdoctoral fellowship as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the Five Colleges, and previously, from the office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE) at Stanford via the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (SIGF) for her PhD dissertation research: Archaeological Psychoacoustics at Chavín de Huántar, Perú, additionally supported by a Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences Graduate Research Opportunity (GRO) Award.

Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SiCa) generously provided the equipment and travel funds for our initial exploration of Chavín acoustics in 2008, enabling our ongoing study of Chavín architectural acoustics and measurements of the Chavín pututus.

The microphone array prototypes used for some of our measurements were designed in collaboration with the D2M engineering design firm and microphone manufacturer Countryman Associates, with D2M donating their electrical and mechanical engineering services, and Countryman Associates providing us the needed specialized microphone elements. The CaliforniaTechnology&Innovation Lab of audio equipment manufacturer Sennheiser donated equipment used in preliminary tests, initial measurements, and array prototyping. Network Sound consulted with us in the planning of a custom audio signal distribution system.