Have you ever tried to imitate the call of a bird?
Well, you wouldn’t be the first. Some 12,000 years ago, ancient people did it using specially-made flutes.
A team of scientists, including a professor from Virginia Commonwealth University, made a remarkable discovery of prehistoric musical instruments, fashioned from bird bones.
Their findings were published in the science journal called Scientific Reports.
Seven flutes were unearthed at the Eynan-Mallaha site in northern Israel.
The flutes were crafted by the Natufians, a group of people who were some of the last to live as hunter-gatherers in the Near East region during 13000 B.C. to 9700 B.C.
Dr. Tal Simmons, a forensic science professor at VCU, was part of the team that found over 1,100 bones from 59 different bird species at the site. Her work helped to understand when these nomadic hunter-gatherers lived there and which bird bones were most commonly found.
“These flutes are pretty unique,” Dr. Simmons said. “They are the first flutes found in the Near East region, dating back around 12,000 years, and they can make sounds just like the calls of other birds that were hunted at the site.”
The flutes were made from the bones of two types of birds, the Eurasian teal and the Eurasian coot. The flutes were carefully crafted using small stone blades to groove and scrape into the long bird bones.
When played, one of the flutes sounded like the high-pitched screech of a bird of prey, similar to a kestrel or a sparrowhawk.
Scientists think the flutes may have been used for hunting, communication, or even as part of religious practices.
They could have been used as duck calls to attract birds for hunting, or perhaps to try and connect spiritually with the birds of prey.
The evidence of this is found in the number of raptor talons – clawed feet of birds of prey – found at the site, which may have been used as jewelry or seen as a kind of spiritual animal symbol.
“These flutes help us to understand more about Natufian culture, particularly about their relationship with birds of prey,” Dr. Simmons said.
These ancient instruments can now be found in the zoological collections at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. So, next time you try to copy a bird’s call, remember that you’re participating in a tradition that’s thousands of years old!
