Divje Babe Flute - "Neanderthal Flute"

"Neanderthal Flute"

In 1995, Ivan Turk found an approximately 43,100 year-old juvenile cave bear femur at the Divje Babe site, near a Mousterian hearth. Because it has characteristics of a flute, he has called it the "Neanderthal flute". Whether it is actually a flute created by Neanderthals is a subject of debate. It is broken at both ends, and has two complete holes and what may be the incomplete remains of one hole on each end, meaning that the bone may have had four or more holes before being damaged. The bone fragment is the diaphysis of the left femur of a one to two year-old cave bear, and is 113.6 mm long. The maximum diameters of the two complete holes are 9.7 and 9.0 mm. The distance between the centers of the holes is 35 mm.

If the bone is a flute, it would be evidence of the existence of music 43,000 years ago. Thus Ivan Turk has asserted that whether the holes are of "artificial" (made by man) or "natural" (punctures from a carnivore bite) origin is the "crucial question.",

The bone has become a noted attraction in National Museum of Slovenia, publicized on official Slovenian websites aired on TV with tunes played on a clay replica and is a source of pride for the country. In the West, paintings were made, models constructed, and musicians such as Biology Professor and flautist Jelle Atema have played them publicly.

French based, Italian taphonomist Francesco D'Errico (et al., 1998), Holderman and Serangeli (1999), as well as Chase and Nowell (1998, 552), hypothesized its carnivore origine.