Sept 24, 2009: Flute

[xoxoxoBruce]

Remember, "Ancient sculpture has enormous rack", the IOtD of the 35,000 year old ivory carving?
Just 28 inches away from the busty babe, they found this flute.

In all, researchers report finding the fragments of four flutes at two excavations in an area of southwestern Germany known as Swabia. Three of the sets of fragments were carved from mammoth ivory, but the real prize is a nearly complete flute hollowed out from the bone of a griffon vulture. That specimen was found in the Hohle Fels cave, just 28 inches (70 centimeters) away from the spot where the prehistoric Venus (or, as some wags have put it, "prehistoric porn") was found.

It may be the oldest instrument in existance.

They said there were no "convincing" claims that any older musical instruments have ever been discovered.

"Convincing", being the key word here, because....

Actually, Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Turk and other researchers have pointed to a bear-bone fragment that is about 50,000 years old and appears to have the finger holes for a flute. I wrote about that particular specimen nine years ago in a story on the "sounds of science." But there's still a controversy over whether the holes were made by a Neanderthal or by a bone-chomping scavenger.

So this may not be the oldest, but it did party with the busty babe.

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