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Music could have been an inspiration for the design of Stonehenge, according to an American researcher.

Steven Waller's intriguing idea is that ancient Britons could have based the layout of the great monument, in part, on the way they perceived sound.

He has been able to show how two flutes played in a field can produce an auditory illusion that mimics in space the position of the henge's pillars.

Mr Waller presented the idea at the AAAS meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

He told the BBC: "My theory is that the ancient Britons, when they were hearing two pipers in a field, were experiencing sound wave interference patterns, where in certain locations as you walked around the pair of pipers, you would hear loud or quiet zones.      More Read