First Musical Instruments: Aurignacian Bone Flutes
c. 43,000-40,000 BCE · Prehistoric
Between 43,000 and 40,000 years ago, early modern humans crafted flutes from bird bones and mammoth ivory. Archaeologists discovered these instruments in Hohle Fels and Geißenklösterle caves in southern Germany's Swabian Jura. The flutes contained multiple finger holes positioned to produce a diatonic musical scale. Found alongside figurines and other artifacts, these instruments indicate that musical expression formed part of Upper Paleolithic culture and coincided with developments in symbolic behavior.
Key Figures
Nicholas Conard
Locations
Hohle Fels CaveGeißenklösterle Cave
Topics
musicritualhuman evolutionprehistoric artsymbolic thoughtUpper Paleolithic
Connected Events — 2 Connections
Both artifacts represent the same cultural explosion of symbolic behavior in Upper Paleolithic Germany, with bone flutes and figurative sculptures emerging within the same regional cave networks as complementary expressions of abstract thought and ritual practice Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel: Earliest Figurative Sculpture
Aurignacian bone flutes established the template for wind instrument construction from bird bones that persisted for 35,000 years, with Jiahu flutes representing technological continuity and refinement of the same basic design principles Jiahu Bone Flutes Excavated at Henan Site
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