Neanderthal Flute

Φιλολoγικά/Philologica : Neanderthal's Language · Creation vs. Evolution : Neanderthal - speculations and certainty · HGL'S F.B. WRITINGS : Neanderthal Pre- or Post-Flood? Me and Roger Pearlman ... · Neanderthal Flute · Neanderthals as Elves and Trolls and as Pre-Flood · Elves, Trolls, Pre-Flood - Continued

Hans-Georg Lundahl

July 11 at 7:59 PM

How great or small is the probability that Divje Babe bone flute was made by Neanderthals?

AC

I would say that the chances of the Divje Babe "flute" being a Neandertal instrument are slim to none. Francesco d'Errico and April Nowell published a paper where they studied this artifact taphonomically and found that the holes in the bone are actually carnivore punctures. Unfortunately, we do not have any evidence of Neandertals creating instruments in the same way that Upper Paleolithic Modern Humans did. I'm not saying it's impossible or that they were incapable, but it's more like that Neandertals either expressed their musical interests vocally or with other form of noise-making (such as drumming on perishable items or on skin), which may not have left traces in the archaeological record.

RT

The Slovenian team have done lots of work since then and it looks like there might well be Neanderthal working marks as well as hyena chewing. There’s no solid proof it was used as a flute but it might have been. We will probably never know for sure.

AC

Do you have a citation for some of the work you are referring to? I’d be interested in seeing what they have to say. So far, I’m inclined to believe that at the very least, it is not a flute, but I am interested to see what kind of markings might also be present! 🙂 Thank you in advance.

RT

At the ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology conference in Slovenia in 2017 many papers covered the bone. When reconstructed it can be played as a flute. Whether it was or not is another matter. I suggest you could start with the conference programme here:

Glazba v kameni dobi / Music in the Stone Age
https://iza2.zrc-sazu.si/sites/default/files/glasba-v-kameni-dobi-knjizica.pdf

Hans-Georg Lundahl

How do they say in Slovenian, RT? Hvala?

In English, it is thanks!

RT and AC will have names disclosed if they so wish.