Page 70 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

Verifying whether Santa Maria d’Àneu Field Acoustic Measurements
served as the center of the Àneu deanery through In March 2024, we conducted outdoor acoustic
existing historical records is challenging. How- measurements at the site of Santa Maria d’Àneu.
ever, our soundscape analysis offers a novel per- The church features a bell gable on the west-fac-
spective by assessing whether this church had ing entrance wall, slightly offset towards the
the auditory capacity to initiate the deanery’s south. A medium-sized bell within the bell gable
aural network, transmitting auditory messages (fig. 3) is manually rung by pulling a rope from
throughout the Àneu parishes via its bell ring- the interior church gallery. We recorded acoustic
ing. Thus, our findings introduce fresh evidence data using the Sound level meter Cesva 202 con-
that may help to resolve the debate regarding the nected to a ZoomH4n recorder. This setup pro-
central ecclesiastical role of Santa Maria in the vided acoustic data in an Excel file as the sound
Àneu valley. level meter output and a corresponding audio
70 Methodology of Archaeoacoustic Study file in WAV format from the recorder. The so-

The methodology of this archaeoacoustic study nometer was mounted on a tripod at a height of
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 2 / volume 12 (2024), number 2
1.5 m, approximating ear height.
consists of three main parts: 1) field acoustic As shown in fig. 4, we recorded background
measurements, 2) virtual sound propagation noise and bell ringing for two receiver points:
simulations, and 3) visibility analysis. in front of the church and approximately 70m

Figure 3: The Location of the Bell Gable with the Microphone/Sonometer Set at the Receiver Point R1 in Front (left)
and a Close-up of the Bell (right).