Did Neanderthals Play Music? X‐ray Computed Micro‐tomography of the Divje Babe ‘Flute’*

Abstract

Archaeological evidence for wind musical instruments made by modern humans has been well established from the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. Musical instruments evidently made by Neanderthals have not been found so far. The most controversial object is a juvenile cave bear femur with two complete holes, found in 1995 in the Middle Palaeolithic layers of the Cave Divje babe I, Slovenia. The bone was interpreted as a possible Neanderthal ‘flute’, but some scholars have firmly rejected this hypothesis on the basis of taphonomic observations, suggesting a carnivore origin for the holes. Here, we show the results of X‐ray computed micro‐tomography (mCT) performed on the Divje babe I ‘flute’. Our analyses demonstrate that there were originally four holes, possibly made with pointed stones and bone tools. Most surface modifications near the holes, previously interpreted as effects of carnivore gnawing, are post‐depositional marks. Furthermore, a thin layer has been removed around one of the complete holes, producing a flat surface, possibly to facilitate perforation. The new data show that a Neanderthal manufacture of the object cannot be ruled out.

Non-Destructive Investigation of a Scalenohedral Hematite Pendant from Bahrain,c.1800bc

“…; Tuniz et al . ). X‐μCT represents an evolution of the well‐known computerized axial tomography (CAT) method, developed in the 1970s for medical purposes.…”

The origins of music

“…4. The Divje babe "Neanderthal flute" (a femur bone of a juvenile cave bear, dated to 60 Kya) turns out almost certainly not to be a flute after all (see, e.g., Chase & Nowell, 1998;d'Errico & Lawson, 2006;Diedrich, 2015;Morley, 2006; although see Tuniz et al, 2012, for the view that flute status cannot be ruled out). 5.…”

Digital and Handcrafting Processes Applied to Sound-Studies of Archaeological Bone Flutes

“…If their consequences on our interpretations are still to be defined, they allow different kind of approaches and studies that aim to get a better understanding of ancient sounds. They can be applied to any organological material [10], such as string instruments ( [4], [13], [20] and [21]) but also aerophones ( [3], [8], [9] and [11]), among which archaeological "flutes", and objects presumed to be flutes, figure ([1], [22], [14], and [23]). Eventually, the music-archaeology research may even explore new possibilities in sound reconstruction studies, as its data can be applied to sound simulators and sound-scape reconstructions ( [24], [12] and [7]).…”