In 1996, Dr. Ivan Turk, a paleontologist at the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana, along with a research team, found what he claims to be the Neanderthal “flute” in Divje Babe Cave, an archaeology site in Slovenia. The flute was a fragment of a thigh bone from a one or two-year-old cave bear that was punctured with four round holes (only two of which are complete) and was approximately 11.36 centimeters in length. [1] The media jumped on the finding and presented it almost as conclusive evidence that the Neanderthals had infact made their own instruments. On Tuesday October 29th, 1996, a mere day after the findings were announced, The New York Times published an article entitled “Playing of Flute May Have Graced Neanderthal Fire”, in which John Wilford wrote:
“The straight alignment of the holes, all on one side, suggests they were made not by gnawing animals but by the Neanderthals, probably using an animal-tooth punch. Neanderthals apparently occupied the cave, Divje Babe I, near Idrija in northwestern Slovenia, as a hunting camp.
Since the object resembled bone flutes found at other European and Asian sites of modern humans, usually dated from 22,000 to 35,000 years ago, Dr. Turk concluded that this could also be a flute, which would mean it was the first musical instrument ever to be associated with Neanderthals.”
In his essay about the Neanderthal Flute, Bob Fink discusses the distance between each of the holes on the bone flute, which seem to create whole tones and half tones, a founding component of 7-note diatonic scales. Additionally, because the length of the flute remains unknown (but is approximated to have been 37 centimeters), it’s not possible to tell what notes the flute was used to play. [3]
Canadian and American researchers concluded that the flute, or bear femur, could have been as much as 82,000 years old- making it the oldest known musical instrument. [2] However, the finding has since sparked a debate, since it made certain implications about the cognitive functions of Neanderthals, namely that they were capable of taking something as natural as a bone and making use of it within the social and cultural space that music occupies. [1]
A taphonomist named Francesco d’Errico, in an article for the Journal of World Pre-History, wrote, “these perforations should be interpreted as carnivore punctures.” d’Errico asserted that holes of the same size, shape, and number on the neanderthal flute were also found on cave bear bones at sites with no traces of “human occupation,” meaning that cave bears were probably the ones responsible for the perforations. [4][1] Additionally, holes, occuring in almost all bones, are particularly abundant on limb bones, of which the flute was carved from. There were also other bones found on the same site which had holes very similar in size and shape to the ones on the flute. [4]
Stephen Mithen, a Professor of Early Prehistory at the University of Reading, is also not convinced, noting that even after visiting the flute on display at the National Museum in Slovenia, he still sees the bone’s resemblance to a flute as a mere coincidence. “Their [Neanderthals] general intelligence would, I suspect, have been sufficient to enable the use of an unmodified stick to beat out rhythms on the ground, but not to transform a bone into a flute- that would have been a cognitive step too far,” Mithen wrote in The Singing Neanderthals.
Sometime between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago, the Neanderthals and modern humans shared a common ancestor. Neanderthals developed primarily in Europe, and became extinct around 30,000 years ago, while modern humans dispersed from Africa and spread into Europe and the rest of the world around 40,000 years ago.[1]
Yesterday, The Boston Globe published an article about the oldest instrument ever found, also a flute, made not by Neanderthals but by Homo sapiens living in Southwest Germany at least 35,000 years ago. The flute is said to have been fashioned out of the wing bone of a griffon vulture. While the debate about the Neanderthal flute still seems to remain unsettled, both archaeological finds hint at the possible creativity present in both Neanderthals and modern humans. The article in the Globe reads similarly to the article published by The New York Times in 1996. Perhaps a new debate is on the way.
[1] Stephen Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006) 221-45.
[2] John Noble Wilford, “Playing of Flute May Have Graced Neanderthal Fire,” The New York Times 29 Oct. 1996: C1.
[3] Bob Fink, Neanderthal Flute: Oldest Musical Instrument’s 4 Notes Matches 4 of Do, Re, Mi Scale, http://www.greenwych.ca/fl-compl.htm (1997)
[4] Francesco d’Errico, “Neanderthal Musical Traditions?,” Journal of World Pre-History Mar. 2003: 36-9.
Tags: archaeology, Bob Fink, Divje Babe Cave, Divje Babe flute, Francesco d'Errico, Ivan Turk, prehistory, Slovenia, Stephen Mithen
