According to data published Friday in the journal Scientific Reports, A group of researchers, including a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, has discovered rare prehistoric tools made from bird bones that are more than 12,000 years old. The seven flutes or aerophones found in the Einan Mallah region in northern Israel belonged to the Natufians who lived between 13,000 BC. In that case.

Tal Simmons, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Forensic Sciences at VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences and co-author of the paper Scientific Reports, identified 1,112 bones from 59 bird species found at the site. His research allowed the team to understand what time of year nomadic hunter-gatherers lived in the area and what types of bones were most often found there.

“Although bone ‘grooves’ or ‘aerophones’ are known from other archaeological sites in other parts of the world, they are quite rare and have mostly been found in Europe. “These are the first to be detected in the Middle East and date back about 12,000 years,” said Simmons. it actually makes the sounds of other raptors hunting in the area.”

The discovery marks the first time a prehistoric sounding instrument has been identified from the Middle East and is the oldest bird-like instrument of any ancient civilization.

An aerophone is completely solid with thumbholes and a mouthpiece. When the flute is played, it sounds like the cry of a bird of prey—or, as Simmons puts it, “a high-pitched cry much like the sound of a smaller bird of prey in the treetops.”

“All seven of them were deliberately made by carving and turning the long bones of two species of birds, teal and clumsy, with small stone blades. “They all show microscopic damage that indicates they were actually used or played with,” said Simmons. It is very similar to the sound of two special raptors hunted by humans, the kestrel and the kestrel.”

Researchers believe aerophones may have been used in spiritual practices for hunting, communication or making music.

“Since these are among the earliest aerophones, they shed light on the role of music in Natufian culture and perhaps the association of Natufian peoples with birds of prey,” Simmons said.

“Perhaps it was like the sound of a duck – trying to lure birds so they could hunt. However, this could also have been an attempt at spiritual communication or sharing with birds of prey, as evidenced by the disproportionate raptor claws in archaeological assemblages of raptor’s – Natufian – and earlier – in the eastern Mediterranean. They were important to the culture. They may have been worn as ritual “ornaments” by prehistoric people, and may even have been “totem” animals.”

The aerophones are now in the zoological collections of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Givat Ram campus. Source