RE: Neanderthal flute

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I have more information on the more recent report in the April 1997 issue of Discovery magazine about Neanderthal musical instruments, including a gigantic "tuba" made from a mastodon tusk.

The discovery was made by Oscar Todkopf, a paleontologist at Hindenburg University. He made the find in the Neander Valley in Germany in April of 1996 by actually tripping on the tip of the tusk on a hiking trail. The 6 foot long tusk was unearthed intact and dated at ~50,000 years old, long before anatomically modern humans were present in Europe.

>From the photograph the tusk appears to be in excellent condition. It is strongly curved and is shown looking down the spiral shape from the point end towards where the head of the mastodon would have been. It is difficult for me to allow for foreshortening in the photograph, however it appears that the row of 16 regularly spaced holes cover much of the lower third of the tusk going from the center out to about 6 inches from the pointed end which appears to be closed, although it may have a tiny hole in the tip. Except for the 5 holes closest to the mouthpiece, the holes are about 1/2 inch in diameter and are spaced a bit over an inch apart. The top 5 holes may be progressively closer together and smaller in diameter than the other 11 holes, but foreshortening in the photo makes estimating this only a guess. Todkopf said that the number of holes (16) suggests that the Neanderthals used an octave scale.

The tusk looks in a good enough condition to toot on as it is, so there is probably no need to speculate on what scale was used, just play it and see.

The same article states that Todkopf also found a collection of long thin bones was arrayed around the impression of something which may have been a skin bladder (protein stains were present). He speculates that this was a bagpipe of some kind, or possibly were played as individual nose flutes. He also found evidence for what may have been a xylophone or possibly wind chimes made of various lengths of bone.

Hmmmm..... was Pan a Neanderthal?
Clif Ashcraft



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