First Prehistoric Flutes Identified From The Near East Were Made Of Bird Bones, Date Back To Over 12,000 Years: Study

These instruments, called aerophones, belonged to the Natufians, who lived between 13,000 BC and 9,700 BC. The flutes were discovered at the Eynan-Mallaha site in northern Israel.

Researchers have discovered seven 12,000-year-old flutes from northern Israel, which are the first prehistoric sound instruments identified from the Near East. These instruments, called aerophones, belonged to the Natufians, who lived between 13,000 BC and 9,700 BC. Natufians were some of the last hunter-gatherers known in the Levant, or Near East region, during that era. The Levant is a geographical term used to refer to a large area in the eastern Mediterranean region of west Asia. The Near East comprises several regions around the east Mediterranean, including the Levant.  

The flutes were discovered at the Eynan-Mallaha site in northern Israel, a study published June 9 in the journal Scientific Reports said. 

According to a statement released by Virginia Commonwealth University, Tal Simmons, a co-author on the paper, identified 1,112 bones from 59 species of birds found at the Eynan-Mallaha site. 

What were the aerophones used for?

It is rare to find direct evidence for palaeolithic sound-making instruments. So far, scientists have documented only a few examples of sound instruments from the Upper Palaeolithic era, which refers to the early period of the Stone Age, and occurred 50,000 to 12,000 years ago. The study authors noted that there is very little evidence of sound production in the prehistoric archaeological record of the Levant, and most musical instruments have been found in Europe. 

The aerophones discovered as part of the study were intentionally manufactured more than 12,000 years ago to produce a range of sounds similar to raptor calls, and were used as tools of communication, to attract prey, and make music, the study said. Raptor calls are artificial bird sounds.

Similar aerophones from later archaeological cultures have been found, but artificial bird sounds had not been reported from the Palaeolithic era, until the recent discovery. 

These instruments are not only the first of their kind to be identified from the Near East, but also the oldest from any ancient civilization to imitate a bird call.

In the statement, Simmons said the instruments might have been used to produce duck calls to lure birds, or an attempt to spiritually communicate with those birds of prey. Another possible use of these instruments is that they could have been worn as ritual jewellery, or served as "totem" animals in witchcraft. 

How were the aerophones made? 

According to Virginia Commonwealth University, one aerophone is completely intact, and is equipped with finger holes and a mouthpiece. 

The study said that the aerophones are all made of wing long-bones whose diaphysis, or central part, had been perforated one to four times to form finger holes. The flutes were made using a humerus, five ulnae, and one radial bone of birds. 

In three of the flutes, the epiphysis, or the end part of a bone, is still present. The epiphysis had been perforated to form the mouthpiece of the distal end of the object. A series of small parallel incisions, linked to the placements of the fingers on the instrument, was located near the finger holes on each of three aerophones. 

Contact-wear traces were seen on all the instruments, indicating that they had been used. 

The complete aerophone, discovered in 1998, was broken in three pieces, and glued shortly thereafter. 

The study said that the birds whose bones were used to make the instruments are the Eurasian teal or Anas crecca, and the Eurasian coot or Fulica atra. Animals belonging to the Anas genus are surface-feeding ducks that migrated to the Levant when it was winter in their homes. 

Significance of the study

The authors noted that the discovery of the flutes from Eynan-Mallaha contributes new evidence for a distinctive sound-producing instrument in the Palaeolithic. Also, the study provides important new data on the antiquity and development of the variety of sound-making instruments in the Palaeolithic, and at the dawn of the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, which started 10,000 years ago, in the Levant.

The significance of the Natufian archaeological culture is that it marks the transition from hunter-gatherer Palaeolithic societies into fully-fledged agricultural economics of the Neolithic. Analysis of the archaeological culture of Natufians, which includes graveyards, durable stone-built structures and artistic manifestations, has revealed that the Natufians were the first hunter-gatherers in the Levant to adopt a sedentary lifestyle. This was a dramatic economic and societal change associated with growing social complexity. 

The authors said that their study of the seven Natufian aerophones shows that these meticulously manufactured instruments demonstrate the existence of a distinct category of objects that might represent a tradition of sound production in the Eynan-Mallaha. Also, the wind instruments employ the musically effective finger hole principle for generating and organising different sound pitches. This is a new type of Paleolithic aerophone, which was not identified before. 

The significance of the study is that it presents crucial evidence for the acoustic phenomenon of sound manipulation from a cultural context, which marks a significant change in the history of humankind. This change was the transition into complex agricultural societies manipulating their vegetal and animal environments. 

The evolution of music at the transition to agriculture was more branched than what was assumed before, the authors concluded.