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A Middle Palaeolithic origin of music? Using cave-bear bone accumulations to assess the Divje Babe I bone ‘flute’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Francesco D'Errico ,
Paola Villa ,
Ana C. Pinto Llona  and
Rosa Ruiz Idarraga
Francesco D'Errico
Affiliation:
UMR 9933 du CNRS, Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence, France. f.derrico@iquat.u-bordeaux.fr
Paola Villa
Affiliation:
Université Bordeaux 1, UMR 9933 du CNRS, Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence, France. villa@iquat.u-bordeaux.fr University of Colorado Museum, Boulder CO 80309-0315, USA
Ana C. Pinto Llona
Affiliation:
Area de Prehistoria, Universidad de Oviedo, 33007 Asturias, Spain. acpinto@las.es
Rosa Ruiz Idarraga
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Historicas, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao, Spain. rruid@las.es
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Abstract

The discovery of a perforated cave-bear femur from the Neanderthal levels at Divje Babe has been interpreted as the oldest musical instrument in Europe. Here we present the current discussion on the ‘flute’ and its implications for other similar bone finds from early prehistory.

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Type
Papers
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Antiquity , Volume 72 , Issue 275 , March 1998 , pp. 65 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1998

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