World's Oldest Flute

It seems that early modern humans were dancing to the tune of bird-bone flutes as early as 35,000 years ago.

Research online in the journal Nature this week reports the discovery of a five-hole bird-bone flute and two fragments of ivory flutes from the cave of Hohle Fels in southwestern Germany.

Although arguments have been made for Neanderthal musical traditions and musical instruments in the Middle Palaeolithic, concrete evidence is lacking. Nicholas Conard and colleagues describe the flutes, which were found close to the mammoth-ivory Venus figurine reported recently in Nature by the same group.

The work demonstrates that the earliest modern humans in Europe, around 35,000–40,000 years ago, already had a well-established musical tradition. These musical instruments are part of a package of complex symbolic artefacts that document that early modern humans in Europe were culturally modern.