35,000-year-old flute oldest instrument ever found

AFP/DPD – Prehistorian historian Nicholas Conard presents the bone flute from Hohle Fels to journalists in the …

by Marlowe Hood Marlowe Hood – Wed Jun 24, 1:39 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – Stone Age humans may have ripped raw meat from the bone with their teeth but they also played music, according to a study reporting the discovery of a 35,000-year-old flute, the oldest instrument known.

Found in the Ach Valley of southern Germany, the nearly intact five-hole flute was meticulously carved with stone tools from the hollow wing-bone of a giant vulture, says the study, published Thursday in the British journal Nature.

Fragments from three ivory flutes unearthed at the same site, along with nearby instruments not quite as old, suggest that humans who had then only recently migrated to the Upper Danube enjoyed a rich musical culture.

And a stunning female figurine from the same period found only a couple paces from the bone flute, reported last month, points to a broader artistic flowering.

Indeed, the area within the cave that yielded the flutes reveals a veritable artist's atelier.

There is debris from the flint tools used to chip the instruments; traces of worked bone and ivory from mammoth, horse, reindeer and bear; and burnt bone, one of the ingredients -- along with minerals, charcoal, blood and animal fats -- used by Stone Age humans for cave painting.

"We can now conclude that music played an important role in Aurignacian life in the Ach and Lone valleys," commented Nicholas Conard, a professor at the University of Tubingen and lead author of the study.

Aurignacian culture flourished in western Europe during what is known as the Upper Palaeolithic period, from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The bone flute, part of a treasure trove of artifacts uncovered at the Hohle Fels Cave, was found in 12 pieces scattered over an oval area the size of a large plate. It is in superb condition and reveals many details about its manufacture.

Nearly 22 centimetres (8.7 inches) long and 2.2 centimetres (one inch) in diameter, the instrument has precisely carved markings next to four of the finger holes, probably to indicate where they should be cut.

There are two deep, V-shaped notches carved into the end into which the musician blew.

Conard reports that a playable replica of the flute has not yet been made, but says it is likely to produce a range of notes comparable to many modern types of flute.

The technique for making the ivory flutes -- of which only a few fragments remain -- is far more complicated, according to the study.

First the craftsman would have hewn the rough shape of the instrument from a solid, naturally curved piece of tusk. Then the piece of ivory was split lengthwise, the halves hollowed out, and the holes carved.

Finally the two halves of the flute were rejoined with some kind of glue to form an air-tight seal.

Using radiocarbon dating techniques, Conard calculated that the newly discovered bone and ivory flutes were made at least 35,000 years ago, pushing back the age of the oldest known instrument by some 5,000 years.

Conard speculates that late Stone Age music did not contribute directly to the evolutionary success of the first modern humans.

But it may have given them a slight edge over neighbouring Neanderthals, who died out even as Homo sapiens sapiens flourished.

"Upper Palaeolithic music could have contributed to the maintenance of large social networks, and thereby have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans" compared to the more "culturally conservative" and isolated Neanderthals, he said.

Scientists have long speculated that Neanderthals played music too, but no evidence of their musicality has been found so far.

The flawless flautist: The musical robot that plays Flight Of The Bumblebee perfectly

By Cher Thornhill

Classical musicians could have good reason to be worried as scientists have developed a musical robot that makes no mistakes.

Waseda University’s robotic flautist can play the challenging musical score of the ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ almost flawlessly.

And the robot has been designed with a human-like quality that allows it to engage with the audience, making in a contender for concert performances.

Flute-tastic: The musical robot plays 'The Flight of the Bumblee' with virtually no mistakes

The Waseda Flutist No. 4 Refined IV was unveiled at the BioRob 2008 conference in Arizona two weeks ago.

Thanks to a series of technical advances, the latest version makes smoother transitions between notes than the original model built in 2003.

The robot’s mouth and lungs have been carefully designed to mimic the expert air control of a professional flautist.

High-speed: All of the robots fingers can open and close the flute keys in 8 Hz

The scientists created artificial lips with the elasticity of human lips and embedded pins, which control their shape.

The robot’s tongue has been redesigned to enable the double-tonguing technique – the high-speed playing used throughout the famous ‘Flight of the Bumblee’.

It even has an in-built mechanism to create vibrato, which can take human players years to master, that changes the amplitude and frequency of the robot’s airflow.

The transition: The WF1 (left, 1990), WF2 (1992) and WF3RIX (2002)

The lungs are composed of two air-tight acrylic cases, with a bellow that allows them to breathe in and out.

And the robot's eyes have two cameras that allow it to interact with the audience and other musicians, so we could soon see it playing duets with people.

Research on the musical robot began in 1990, with the aim that it would eventually rival human musicians.

But the WF-4RIV is more than just a gimmick. The makers hope to make it sophisticated enough to achieve better human-computer interaction and then teach music to pupils.

View video footage of the robot here...