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Prehistoric music

Prehistoric music (previously called primitive music) is a term in the history of music for all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. Prehistoric music is followed by ancient music in different parts of the world, but still exists in isolated areas. However, it is more common to refer to the "prehistoric" music which still survives as folk, indigenous or traditional music. Prehistoric music is studied alongside other periods within music archaeology.

Findings from Paleolithic archaeology sites suggest that prehistoric people used carving and piercing tools to create instruments. Archeologists have found Paleolithic flutes carved from bones in which lateral holes have been pierced. The disputed Divje Babe flute, carved from a cave bear femur, is thought to be at least 40,000 years old. Instruments such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments, such as the Ravanahatha, have been recovered from the Indus Valley civilization archaeological sites.[1] India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music (marga) are found in the Vedas, ancient Hindu scriptures.[2]

Origins of prehistoric instruments[edit]

Many languages traditionally have terms for music that include dance, religion, or cult. The context in which prehistoric music took place has also become a subject of study and debate, as the sound made by music in prehistory would have been somewhat different depending on the acoustics present. Some cultures include sound mimesis within their music; often, this feature is related to shamanistic beliefs or practice.[3][4] It may also serve entertainment[5][6] or practical functions, for example in hunting scenarios.[5]


It is likely that the first musical instrument was the human voice itself, which can make a vast array of sounds, from singing, humming and whistling through to clicking, coughing and yawning.[7] The oldest known Neanderthal hyoid bone with the modern human form has been dated to be 60,000 years old,[8] predating the oldest known Paleolithic bone flute by some 20,000 years,[9] but the true chronology may date back much further.


Theoretically, music may have existed prior to the Paleolithic era. Anthropological and archaeological research suggest that music first arose when stone tools first began to be used by hominins. The noises produced by work, such as pounding seed and roots into a meal, are a likely source of rhythm created by early humans. The first rhythm instruments or percussion instruments most likely involved the clapping of hands, stones hit together, or other things that are useful to create rhythm. There are bone flutes and pipes which are unambiguously paleolithic. Additionally, pierced phalanges (usually interpreted as "phalangeal whistles"), bullroarers, and rasps have also been discovered. The latter musical finds date back as far as the Paleolithic era, although there is some ambiguity over archaeological finds which can be variously interpreted as either musical or non-musical instruments/tools.[10]


Another possible origin of music is motherese, the vocal-gestural communication between mothers and infants. This form of communication involves melodic, rhythmic and movement patterns as well as the communication of intention and meaning, and in this sense is similar to music.[11]


Geoffrey Miller suggests musical displays play a role in "demonstrating fitness to mate." Based on the ideas of honest signal and the handicap principle, Miller suggested that music and dancing, as energetically costly activities, demonstrated the physical and psychological prowess of the singing and dancing individual.[12] Similarly, communal singing occurs among both sexes in cooperatively breeding songbirds of Australia and Africa, such as magpies[13] and white-browed sparrow-weavers.[14]

Asia[edit]

China[edit]

In 1986, several gudi (lit. "bone flutes") were found in Jiahu in Henan Province, China. They date to about 7000 BCE. They have between six and nine holes each and were made from the hollow bones of the red-crowned crane. At the time of discovery, one was found to be still playable. This playable bone flute is capable of using both the five- or seven-note Xia Zhi scale and the six-note Qing Shang scale of the ancient Chinese musical system.

India[edit]

India has the oldest musical traditions in the world. References to Indian classical music (marga) are found in the Vedas, ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition.[2] Instruments such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments have been recovered from the Indus Valley Civilisation archaeological sites.[18]

Audio/visual

demonstration

Sound modulation by .

changing orbital plane

Europe[edit]

Austria and Hungary[edit]

Clay bells were found in Austria and Hungary which date to the early neolithic period. One is from the Starčevo site in Gellénháza, Hungary, and the other is from the Brunn site located on the outskirts of Vienna which was excavated in 1999. Unlike modern bells these bells lack a clapper. They were suspended by string and most likely struck with wooden sticks or animal bones.[28] Both bells were recreated and played, but neither were loud enough to be used as instruments, which might be why they were destroyed and thrown away.[28]

France[edit]

A one-of-a-kind Upper Paleolithic era Seashell Horn was discovered in the Marsoulas cave in 1931, which is made of a Charonia lampus shell. Dating back to the early Magdalenian period, it was modified to be played as a wind instrument by blowing air through the mouthpiece located at the apex. There are engravings on the inside of the lip, while unclear what the engravings represent, it is clear that they were intentional.[29]

Germany[edit]

In 2008, archaeologists discovered a bone flute in the Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, Germany.[30][31] The five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the discovery officially published their findings in the journal Nature in June 2009. It is one of several similar instruments found in the area, which date to around 42,000 years ago, making this the oldest confirmed finds of any musical instruments in history.[32] The Hohle Fels flute was found next to the Venus of Hohle Fels and a short distance from the oldest known human carving.[33] On announcing the discovery, scientists suggested that the "finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe".[34] Scientists have also suggested that the discovery of the flute may help to explain why early humans survived, while Neanderthals became extinct.[32]

Deschênes, Bruno (2002). . Musical Traditions. The Magazine for Traditional Music Throughout the World.

"Inuit Throat-Singing"

Sámánok nyomában Szibéria földjén. Egy néprajzi kutatóút története

Hoppál, Mihály (2006). (PDF). In Gerhard Kilger (ed.). Macht Musik. Musik als Glück und Nutzen für das Leben. Köln: Wienand Verlag. ISBN 3-87909-865-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2007.

"Music in Shamanic Healing"

Nattiez, Jean Jacques

(2006). The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body.

Mithen, Steven

Sorce Keller, M. (1984). "Origini della musica". In Basso, Alberto (ed.). Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti (in Italian). Vol. III. Torino: UTET. pp. 494–500.

Parncutt, R (2009). (PDF). Musicae Scientiae. 13 (2, supplemental): 119–150. doi:10.1177/1029864909013002071. S2CID 143590098. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-05.

"Prenatal and infant conditioning, the mother schema, and the origins of music and religion"

Hagen, EH and; Hammerstein P (2009). (PDF). Musicae Scientiae. 13: 291–320. doi:10.1177/1029864909013002131. S2CID 39481097.

"Did Neanderthals and other early humans sing? Seeking the biological roots of music in the loud calls of primates, lions, hyenas, and wolves"

Ellen Hickmann, Anne D. Kilmer and Ricardo Eichmann, (ed.) Studies in Music Archaeology III, 2001, VML Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH., Germany  3-89646-640-2

ISBN

Engel, Carl, The Music of the Most Ancient Nations, Wm. Reeves, 1929.

(1976). The Music of the Bible Revealed ISBN 978-2-249-27102-1

Haik Vantoura, Suzanne

Morley, Iain (2013). . Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923408-0.

The Prehistory of Music: Human Evolution, Archaeology, and the Origins of Musicality

Sachs, Curt, The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, East and West, W.W. Norton, 1943.

Sachs, Curt, The Wellsprings of Music, McGraw-Hill, 1965.

Smith, Hermann, The World's Earliest Music, Wm. Reeves, 1904.

Wallin, Nils; ; Brown, Steven, eds. (2000). The Origins of Music. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-73143-0.

Merker, Björn

Ensemble Musica Romana: Music from Antiquity, Prehistoric music

Prehistoric Music Ireland

Sound sample and playing instructions for reconstructed bone flutes.

Dr.Ann Buckely Publications

– the article written by Dr. Ivan Turk who discovered it.

Information about a supposed Neanderthal flute found in Slovenia

The Carnyx, an ancient war/ceremonial Horn