The first prehistoric wind instruments discovered in the Levant — ScienceDaily

The invention of those 12,000 -year-old aerophones is extraordinarily uncommon — in truth, they’re the primary to be found within the Close to East. The “flutes,” made out of the bones of a small waterfowl, produce a sound much like sure birds of prey (Eurasian sparrowhawk and customary kestrel) when air is blown into them.

The selection of bones used to make these devices was no accident — bigger birds, with greater bones that produce deeper sounds, have additionally been discovered on the web site. The Natufians, the Close to Jap civilisation that occupied this village between 13,000 and 9,700 BC, intentionally chosen smaller bones to be able to receive the high-pitched sound wanted to mimic these specific raptors. The devices could have been used for searching, music or to speak with the birds themselves. Certainly, it’s clear that the Natufians attributed birds with a particular symbolic worth, as attested by the numerous ornaments made from talons discovered at Eynan-Mallaha.

The village, positioned on the shores of Lake Hula, was residence to this civilisation all through its 3,000 years of existence. It’s subsequently of important significance in revealing the practices and habits of a tradition on the crossroads between cellular and sedentary existence, and the transition from a predatory economic system to agriculture. This work² was supported by the Fyssen Fondation and the ministère des Affaires étrangères.

Notes

1. The group is co-directed by Laurent Davin (post-doctoral researcher on the Fyssen Fondation) and José-Miguel Tejero (College of Vienna, College of Barcelona) and contains scientists from the Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université/ministère de la Tradition), the laboratoire Technologie et ethnologie des mondes préhistoriques (CNRS/Université Panthéon-Sorbonne/Université Paris Nanterre), The Hebrew College of Jerusalem (Institute of Archaeology), Israel Antiquities Authority, Virginia Commonwealth College (Division of Forensic Science), École Nationale Vétérinaire (Laboratoire d’Anatomie comparée, Nantes), the laboratoire Archéologies et sciences de l’Antiquité (CNRS/ministère de la Tradition/Université Panthéon-Sorbonne/Université Paris Nanterre) and the l’Institut d’ethnologie méditerranéenne, européenne et comparative (CNRS/Université Aix-Marseille).
2. Excavation of the Eynan-Mallaha web site continues to be ongoing, below the course of CNRS researcher Fanny Bocquentin and Israel Antiquities Authority researcher Lior Weisbrod.