Why Stonehenge pillars make metallic, gong sounds like xylophones

Researchers have said that the pillars that form Stonehenge may have been chosen because they were like sacred glockenspiels - a Xylophone like musical instrument.

The sonorous quality of some of the bluestones used for the Stonehenge may help explain why they were transported 200 miles from Pembrokeshire, Wales, when there were plenty of local rocks nearby, the Independent reported.

The study by researchers from Royal College of Art in London tried to record what "Stone Age eyes and ears" may have heard and seen in a prehistoric landscape.

Researchers found that when the thousands of stones were struck with small hammerstones they gave off metallic sounds like bells, gongs or tin drums.

To prove their theory, the researchers tested all the bluestones at Stonehenge, and fund that several made distinctive sounds, despite their acoustic potential having been dampened by being set deep in the ground.

The study concluded that a number of bluestones at Stonehenge show proof of having been struck, confirming why so many Neolithic monuments exist in the region, and provides strong proof that the sounds made the landscape sacred to Stone Age people.

The study has been published in the 'Journal of Time and Mind.