Re: Neanderthal Flute

There is serious question among paleontologists whether the alleged
Neanderthal flute is really an instrument or simply a bone chewed by
cave bears. Apparently the holes look like those made by bear teeth to
some investigators and not like those bored deliberately with stone
tools.

Also, a number of musicologists, including M. L. West and David Levy
(?), have grave doubts on the U.C, Berkeley interpretation of the
Babylonian notation and the Hurrian Cult song transcription. West
believes the notation refers to notes played on the harp with both
hands, not chords as the Berkeley group believes.

In any case, the tuning tablets make it clear that the Babylonians and
related civilizations used "Pythagorean" tuning by the late 3rd and
early 2nd millennia BCE and not 5-limit or proto-12-tet.

I think it is premature to infer musical universals from such dubious
and fragmentary evidence, but I'm becoming curmudgeonly these days.

--John

In a message dated 11/09/1999 03:41:42 PM, jhchalmers@popmail.ucsd.edu wrote:

>I think it is premature to infer musical universals from such dubious
>and fragmentary evidence

IMHO, I do not think there are any definitive "musical universals" to
begin with.
History is full of "culturicides" & cross-cultural pollinations; this
maybe
a factor - amongst several - in the superfacial semblance of musical
universals.
Hopefully 12 TET is not gonna be a musical universal at the expense of
other scale systems... but at the rate of techno-cultural/EuroAmericanized
Globalization - pushed by the "Hidden Hand" of Capitalism, 12 TET may become
a musical universal (if it hasn't already). =(

zHANg