The flutes, made of bone and ivory, represent the earliest known musical instruments and provide unmistakable evidence of prehistoric music. The flutes were found in caves with the oldest known examples of figurative art.

Jun 24, 2009 · A vulture-bone flute discovered in a European cave is likely the world's oldest recognizable musical instrument and pushes back humanity's musical roots, a new study says.

The Jiahu gǔdí (Chinese: 贾湖 骨笛) are the oldest known musical instruments from China, dating back to around 6000 BCE. Gudi means "bone flute " in Chinese.

Jun 24, 2023 · A almost complete bone flute, the most remarkable of these discoveries, was discovered in the basal Aurignacian layers at Hohle Fels Cave in the Ach Valley, 20 kilometers west of Ulm. There were 12 components of the flute.

Bone flutes are one of the oldest known deliberately made musical instruments. Almost all prehistoric bone flutes come from a time in prehistory associated with post-Neanderthal activity, however the Divje Babe flute from Slovenia suggests both that Palaeolithic people were aware of music, but also that they used the same diatomic scale that we ...

Jun 9, 2023 · Archaeologists have unearthed a collection of 12,000-year-old flutes carved out of bird bones at a prehistoric site in Israel. When played, the artifacts mimic the calls of certain birds of prey.

May 23, 2024 · The bone flute is an often primitive flute made out of the bones of various animals. Historians widely consider the bone flute to be the oldest instrument in the world. Some versions of the instrument have been dated back as far as 40,000 years old.

May 4, 2016 · High in the mountains around southwestern Germany, in an area known as Swabia, bone flutes were found in 2008 that have scientists rethinking when human creativity first showed up in history. Many of the bone flutes found around the …

Mar 24, 2023 · Bone flutes discovered in the early Neolithic site of Jiahu in Henan Province, China in 1999 are thought to be the earliest complete playable musical instruments ever found. The seven-holed...

Feb 10, 2025 · One of the oldest known musical instruments is the bone flute, with examples dating back over 40,000 years. Discovered in sites such as the Swabian Jura region of Germany, these flutes were crafted from bird bones and mammoth ivory.