He is better known for his hunting skills, but now it appears
that ice age man did not merely chase prey - he was also fond of
music. German archaeologists revealed yesterday that they had
discovered one of the world's oldest musical instruments, a
35,000-year-old flute carved from the tusk of a now-extinct woolly
mammoth. The flute was dug up in a cave in the Swabian
mountains in south-western Germany, and pieced back together again
from 31 fragments. Its discovery suggests that ice age man, who
roamed across Europe during prehistoric times, had precocious
aesthetic talents, and probably discovered music far earlier than
previously assumed. The flute consisted of two different
halves, probably glued together with birch resin. The identity
of the maker is a mystery; scientists are also unclear about
whether the flute's purpose was recreational or religious.
"Ivory was the most beautiful material available back then,"
Nicholas Conard, an archaeologist at Tübingen University, told
Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper yesterday. "It's a
clear clue that music was extremely important."
He added: "The flute is a technical masterpiece. Nothing like
this from the Paleolithic era has been found until now."
Archaeologist Friedrich Seeberger, who has reconstructed the
instrument, said yesterday he had no doubt the flute was
actually used 35,000 years ago. But he admitted that it was
not easy to play: it has only three identifiable holes. "
Small bone flutes are much easier," he said. "At the moment
I'm finding the large ivory mammoth flute rather hard."
The Swabian mountains have yielded rich pickings in recent
years, including ivory figurines, ornaments and other musical
instruments. Two smaller flutes made from swan bones have
also been unearthed in the same site.
Archaeologists believe humans camped in the area in winter
and spring. The cave is one of several in the Ach Valley,
close to modern-day Stuttgart. The cave complex appears to have
been used for thousands of years, and is also littered with the
bones of reindeer and bears.
The once-plentiful mammoth was a large elephant-like creature
with a hairy coat and long, upcurved tusks. Mammoths flourished
during the Pleistocene period from 2m to 11,000 years ago, but
then abruptly died out.
The university said it would display the prehistoric flute in a
museum in Stuttgart.
<- The ivory bone 35,000 year old flute