So, how did the Natufians use these small wind instruments that they wore on lanyards around their necks? To find out, researchers made replicas of the flutes using mallard bones. Because of the use-wear we think they might have been attached to a string and worn.” Calling in Birds “Because of residues of ocher, we know that they were probably painted. “They are probably some of the smallest prehistoric sound instruments known today,” lead author Laurent Davin told LiveScience. Read Next: Archaeologists Discover Ancient Arrows and Hunting Blinds as Glaciers Melt in Norway The Natufians evidently hunted for these ducks along with “other, larger species, such as birds of prey, larger waterfowl (geese, swans), and especially the mallard,” the authors explain. The instruments were all less than three inches long, and further analysis revealed that the bones came from Eurasian teal and coots. ![]() All of them had signs of wear indicating they had been used, which led the authors to identify the tools as “aerophones,” or wind instruments. They identified one intact wing bone and six other fragments of worked wing bones that featured mouthpieces and multiple finger holes. It wasn’t until archaeologists re-evaluated these bird bones last year that they made a new discovery: some of the bird bones had holes bored into them. The ancient people subsisted off wintering waterfowl and also hunted “birds of prey for their talons,” the authors write, adding that the talons “might have been used as tools or for ornamentation.” This indicated that the Natufians hunted birds-particularly waterfowl-for food and other uses. via Scientific ReportsĪ previous excavation at Eynan-Mallaha in the early 2000s yielded more than a thousand individual bird bones, many of which were found in dwellings and gravesites. The prehistoric bird calls were made from the wing bones of ducks. The Natufians lived in modern-day Israel, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria approximately 11,000 to 15,000 years ago, and they were “the first hunter-gatherers in the to adopt a sedentary lifestyle,” according to the study’s authors. The flutes were discovered at a cultural site in Israel’s Hula Valley known as Eynan-Mallaha, which was home to the Natufian culture. But there’s a third explanation, which is that humans used these tools as rudimentary calls for bringing birds into hunting range. ![]() The authors suggest that the flutes could have been used to communicate or played as musical instruments. “…these objects were intentionally manufactured more than 12,000 years ago to produce a range of sounds similar to raptor calls,” the study’s authors write. In a paper that was published in Scientific Reports this month, researchers conclude that the 12,000-year-old flutes were made from duck bones and were used to imitate the calls of certain birds. VCG via Getty Images SHAREĪrchaeologists have found a collection of prehistoric flutes in northern Israel that could provide some insight into how early humans hunted birds. This particular bird-bone instrument was found in China and was made at least 5,000 years later than the calls pictured below.
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