Ancient hunter-gatherer seashell resonates after 17,000 years — by Jonathan Amos
Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 8:36 pm
The article I'm linking also shares some sound files of the shell instrument.Archaeologists have managed to get near-perfect notes out of a musical instrument that's more than 17,000 years old.
It's a conch shell that was found in a hunter-gatherer cave in southern France.
The artefact is the oldest known wind instrument of its type. To date, only bone flutes can claim a deeper heritage.
Its significance lies in the dot-like markings inside the shell.
These match the artwork on the walls of the Marsoulas cave in the Pyrenees where the artefact was unearthed in 1931.
"This establishes a strong link between the music played with the conch and the images, the representations, on the walls," explained Gilles Tosello from the University of Toulouse. "To our knowledge this is the first time we can put in evidence a relationship between music and cave art in European pre-history."
Ancient hunter-gatherer seashell resonates after 17,000 years — by Jonathan Amos
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56017967
