Bradshaw Foundation Archaeology News
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Bradshaw Foundation Archaeology News
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Short film on a Neanderthal flute
Tuesday 19 July 2022

The 60,000-year-old artefact rewriting Neanderthal history – BBC REEL

Neanderthal flute 60,000-year-old artefact BBC REEL archaeologist Ivan Turk Divje Babe cave Slovenia palaeolithic stone bone tools
A perforated bone from the Divje Babe cave in Slovenia, found in the middle of a palaeolithic layer of earth, near the remains of a Neanderthal fire place, stone and bone tools. Image: BBC

In 1995, archaeologist Ivan Turk discovered a unique perforated bone in the Divje Babe cave in Slovenia. The artefact was found in the middle of a Palaeolithic layer of earth, near the remains of a Neanderthal fire place, stone and bone tools.

Watch this fascinating short film from BBC REEL about the discovery of an excavated femur bone of a bear in which 4 aligned holes had been carefully drilled using a bear tooth. Turk believes this was a Neanderthal flute made between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago - the oldest musical instrument yet found.

What was the purpose of this Neanderthal instrument? Perhaps it was functional, as a signal whistle used to recreate sounds to attract animals on a hunt. Or perhaps a musical instrument for ritual purposes - for joy, for mourning. If so, it suggests that musical symbolic behaviour was not unique to anatomically modern humans.

Click here to watch the film

Archaeology
Palaeolithic dwelling found in La Garma cave
by Bradshaw Foundation
Monday 04 December 2023
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