There is an unexpected benefit of the acoustical hypothesis for staircase design. It offers a more plausible explanation for the narrow treads and high risers on the pyramid steps. The standard archaeological explanation for short treads is that the Maya, being short in stature, have small feet. Nor does it account for the longer treads found at other Maya buildings at this and other sites. If the hypothesis of intentional design has merit, we are led to two striking conjectures.
Archaeologists seek features that persist through time .
Understandably, archaeologists have until now ignored sound. It seems ironic that an entity as ephemeral as sound could serve their quest to understand ancient civilizations. But the human uses for sound, no less than the other perceptual modalities must surely have shaped human habitations in many ways not yet considered. Perhaps the fledgling field of acoustical archaeology will add to archaeologist's impressive accomplishments in rediscovering our human past. It is fascinating to imagine the ancient Maya as the true inventors of playful soundscape ideas.