12,000-year-old flutes carved of bone are some of the oldest in the world and sound like birds of prey

Abstraction: 12,000-year-old Natufian bone flutes mimic raptor calls at Levant site

Key points:

• Seven bone flutes unearthed at Eynan-Mallaha (Ain Mallaha), Israel, made by the Natufians — last hunter-gatherers of the Levant; only one was fully intact at under 65 mm long
• Found among a stockpile of 1,100 bird bones; flutes bear ocher residue indicating red paint and show wear suggesting they were worn on a string
• When played, flutes produce high-pitched sounds matching Eurasian sparrowhawks and common kestrels; Natufians deliberately selected small bones to achieve falcon-like acoustics
• Researchers built a replica using computer software and matched spectral analysis to falcon calls to confirm
• These are the oldest sound instruments in the world known to imitate bird calls; oldest flute overall is a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute from Slovenia
• Lead author Laurent Davin (French Research Center in Jerusalem) published findings in Scientific Reports, June 2023

Connections: Natufians · Archaeology · Prehistoric Music

Source: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/12000-year-old-flutes-carved-of-bone-are-some-of-the-oldest-in-the-world-and-sound-like-birds-of-prey