The OTS Foundation for Neolithic Studies

Antique stone sculptures decorating a sacred wall

ONE THOUSAND STEPS & 12,000 YEARS!

That's what it took to bring humankind to western "civilization" as it is known in the 21st century.

If you're going to tell part of that story, you should understand the context from a variety of angles.

It's full of surprises, fraught with conflicting information and urban mythology.

The oldest buildings in the world: from Göbekli Tepe to Hal Saflieni to megalithic Stonehenge,

we have been there already, talking to folks and assembling solid scientific evidence since 1990.

ARCHAEOACOUSTICS (of course) * ARCHAEOLOGY * ARCHITECTURE * ETHNOMUSICOLOGY * EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY * GENETICS * NEUROSCIENCE * PHILOSOPHY * SOCIOLOGY * and more

Site photos, video, rare recorded interviews, studio sets, replicas, models, and half a ton of scientific reports

Scroll down to check out one of our projects.

We know that cultures for thousands upon thousands of years passed their cultural norms, rites, and rituals along to younger generations by way of the oral tradition, which required strong listening skills and taught children the right ways to interact and to survive, as well as the correct ways to communicate within the culture or co-culture. This work appears to be a great jumping off point to return to the contexts and sensibilities that once ruled our human race and its array of cultural practices. We should all look deeper into the great potential of this project!

Dr. Larry Edmonds,

Professor Emeritus, Communication

College of Integrative Sciences and Arts

Arizona State University

It is critical that we support this study and that it be recognized as a helpful resource for the health of our cultures. Social media must be understood as a very thin presence, and one that this study can remedy.

~
Michael Purdy PhD Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies, Governors State U. Of IL.

As a former broadcaster, I know from experience the role that sound plays in our lives, whether in music, in spoken word, or in story-telling. Archaeoacoustic research is a promising area of inquiry: the study of what sounds have represented to the cultures of the past, as well as what they represent to present day cultures, offers fascinating and much-needed ways to understand who we are as human beings.

Donna L. Halper, PhD media historian, professor, author, public speaker 2023 Inductee, Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame

Archaeoacoustics is a promising new interdisciplinary initiative that is much needed in our times, when digital distraction and ambient noise are preventing children and people of all ages from developing a relationship with the reality around them. Besides drawing from several disciplines, it combines the ancient with the modern scientific to help humanity develop a continuum of communion with nature and one another.

~
Hal Swindall Professor of English, Woosong University, South Korea