35,000-Year-Old Flute Is Oldest Music Instrument Ever Found 139
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by
timothy
from the old-earth-theory dept.
from the old-earth-theory dept.
Omomyid writes "The AFP is reporting the discovery of a 35,000 year-old flute, made from a vulture wing bone. The context described makes it sound like a musician's shop. There were also fragments of ivory-based flutes and flint tools. Being at least 35KYO this bone flute beats the previous oldest-known musical instrument by at least 5,000 years and puts it very close to the beginning of the Aurignacian culture."
Re:Interesting! (Score:5, Interesting)
But what's really interesting about this flute is that the harmonics are very close to a modern-day flute - 35,000 years later! There is a sample of the recreated sound right now on the New York Times website (permalink [nytimes.com])...
Re:Interesting! (Score:5, Interesting)
South Germany = Cradle of civilization? (Score:1, Interesting)
In 2006, archaeologists in south Germany found the first art object known to man:
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/ivory-carvings-swabian-jura.htm
Now the oldest instrument was found, also in south Germany.
I guess this means civilization originated in Deutshland.
Re:Interesting! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Neanderthal invented musical instruments (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Interesting! (Score:5, Interesting)
"Harmonics" doesn't really mean anything in this sense. Flutes don't play two notes simultaneously, so there is no harmony. This flute is capable of playing at least 5 distinct pitches, or at least 10 if you count overblowing to get a higher octave. The notes in the example [nytimes.com] are Eb, F, G, Bb, and C, which is a pentatonic [wikipedia.org] scale.
This is the most amazing thing to me. The pentatonic scale's pitches have the simple frequency ratios of 1:9/8:5/4:3/2:5/3. Instruments designed to play this scale have been found almost everywhere humans play music. The person that made this instrument perceived, through sound, these simple mathematical ratios. 35,000 years ago, humans had already discovered the beauty in mathematics.
Also, I can draw the conclusion that the person that made this flute had made flutes previously, or learned from someone who did. The chances of gouging holes in a bone at random and having a very accurate pentatonic scale along with a serviceable embouchure hole in the end product is vanishingly small. This skill is learned by trial and error or instruction. This opens up more questions. If the maker of this flute didn't invent the pentatonic scale, who did? How old is the scale?
Re:Interesting! (Score:2, Interesting)
NotBornYesterday's conclusion was dead on! The AC is also correct.
In the example [nytimes.com], the ancient flute played the pitches Eb, F, G, Bb, and C, which is a simple pentatonic scale. When in this particular order, it's called a major pentatonic scale. It's incidental that the pitches are close to these modern pitches (AC's point). The important thing is the distance from one pitch to the next, or in other words, the ratio of one pitch to another (NBY's point).
The ratios in the pentatonic scale are 1:9/8:5/4:3/2:5/3. So if you set Eb as 1, F is 9/8 of Eb, G is 5/4 of Eb, Bb is 3/2 of Eb, and C is 5/3 of Eb. The ratios are what is important. The absolute value of the pitch in Hertz is incidental. The maker of this flute understood these ratios, and constructed the flute accordingly.
The fact that people were using the pentatonic scale 35,000 years ago or more is stunning.