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The oldest discovered musical instruments in the world (flutes made of bones and mammoth ivory) are over 40,000 years old. But instruments and song may be far, far older. In his book The Descent Of Man, Charles Darwin wondered whether our language abilities had started with singing, and if that was the reason for our pleasure in music.
- The Neanderthal Flute
- Bullroarer
- Jiahu Gǔdí
- Tutankhamun’s Trumpets
- Xun
- Lithophone
- Lyres of Ur
- Auloi
- Bow Harp
- Shofar
Up first on our list of very old musical instruments is the Neanderthal flute. However, this isn’t the modern concert flute we recognize today; it’s theNeanderthal flute discovered in 1995 in a cave in Slovenia. It’s thought to be around 60,000 years old. It’s literally the oldest instrument in the world! It is made from the bone of a cave bear and...
Up next is the bullroarer, an ancient musical instrument that dates back to 18,000 BC. It can be found all over the globe. It’s usually a flat elliptical-shaped plank of wood with a long string attached to it. The wood ranges in size from four to 14 inches, some even as long as 28 inches. To use a bullroarer, a person holds the string and whirls th...
Our next instrument is one that can be traced back to roughly 6,000 BCE in China. This makes the Jiahu gǔdíthe oldest musical instrument from this country. To give you a little bit of context, the burial grounds of Jiahu in the Henan Province of central China contained artistic remains, including bone flutes. Six complete bone flutes and fragments ...
Another very old instrument is Tutankhamun’s trumpets, which were discovered in Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s burial chamber. They originated around 5,000 BC. Archaeologist Howard Carter was credited with having discovered the trumpets in 1922. One trumpet was about 19 inches in length and made of bronze. The other was silver and 22.5 inches long. The trum...
Another Chinese instrument makes an appearance on our list. The xunwas a famous instrument in ancient China. The one discovered in Zhejiang was 7,000 years old and is considered the oldest xun artifact. Other xun instruments were also discovered in other places, such as Henan. Xun is an egg-shaped clay sculpture with no more than ten holes on the e...
If it’s called a prehistoric instrument, then you know it’s really old. The lithophone, also known as the “rock gong,” is a percussion instrument made of rocks. It’s believed to have been invented between 8,000 and 2,500 BC. The oldest lithophone was discovered in Vietnam in 1949, consisting of 11 slabs of stones. Lithophones were also found in oth...
Four lyres were discovered in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, which was once part of ancient Mesopotamia. As they are over 4,500 years old, the Lyres of Urare the oldest stringed instruments. Each lyre had an animal head on the front of the sound box to identify its pitch. All these are box lyres, meaning they have a boxlike body. The performer plays by ...
Our next entry is an ancient Greek wind instrument. The auloiwere invented around 2,450 BC. It has two separate pipes, each double-reed, and played at the same time. That is why some would call them a double flute. Later, people would perform using only one pipe. The early auloi were made from wood or bone. Later on, other materials were used, such...
The bow harp, also known as benet, is a type of harp that originated in ancient Egypt. Throughout pharaonic history, it was one of the most popular musical instruments. Bow harps were said to originate in the first dynasty, making them a very old instrument. Harps were already in existence around 2,500 BC. By then, they were the kind of harp consis...
Up next is the shofar, a Jewish instrument traditionally made from the ram’s horn. The shapes and sizes differ depending on the animal and construction. It is blown like a trumpet. Notably, it has no pitch-altering mechanisms. The pitch control is done by modulating the player’s breath control using the lips, tongue, and teeth. In Biblical times, t...
3 days ago · The first musical instruments were probably quite simple. Early humans might have used their bodies to make music, like clapping their hands or using their voices. But as time went on, they started to get more creative.
- James Donaldson
- Geisenklösterle Flutes. Age: 42,000 – 43,000 years old. Country of Origin: Geisenklösterle Cave, Blaubeuren, Germany. Material(s) Used: Mute Swan bone and Mammoth Ivory.
- Divje Babe Flute. Age: 43,100 years old. Country of Origin: Cerkno, Slovenia. Material(s) Used: Cave Bear Femur. photo source: Wikimedia Commons. Prior to the discovery of older bone flutes, the Divje Babe Flute was considered the oldest example of a musical instrument ever found in the world.
- Hohle Fels Flute. Age: 35,000 – 40,000 years old. Country of Origin: Hohle Fels Cave, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Material(s) Used: Griffon Vulture Bone. photo source: Wikimedia Commons.
- Isturitz Flutes. Age: 20,000 – 35,000 years old. Country of Origin: Isturitz Cave, France. Material(s) Used: Vulture Wing Bones. photo source: Flutopedia. The flutes found at the Isturitz archaeological site in southwestern France range in age from about 20,000 to 35,000 years old.
Clockwise, from top left: Joseph Haydn (Hardy, 1791); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (della Croce, 1781); Ludwig van Beethoven (Stieler, 1820); and Franz Schubert (Rieder, 1875). The music of the Classical period is characterized by homophonic texture, or an obvious melody with accompaniment.
Dec 18, 2015 · “Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is considered the world’s earliest melody, but the oldest musical composition to have survived in its entirety is a first century A.D. Greek tune known as the “Seikilos...
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May 24, 2019 · While it is not certain how or when the first musical instrument was invented, most historians point to early flutes made from animal bones that are at least 37,000 years old. The oldest known written song dates back 4,000 years and was written in ancient cuneiform.
