This unusual musical instrument, neither a flute nor a whistle, was cemented near the remains of a 50,000 – 60,000 years old Neanderthal fire pit, made from the thigh bone of a young cave bear into which the Neanderthal drilled three holes and made a sharpened rim for the mouthpiece using tools made of bone and stone. Figure 2. The detail continuous stages of cub femora puncture to breaking stages are demonstrated for the first time herein in the Weiße Kuhle Cave material (figure 6), whereas breakage is much rarer in subadult to adult femora (figures 6, 7 and 8). The Ice Age top predator research in Europe focused these past years on hunting of cave bears in large cave bear dens. Including also the new studies of the omnivorous brown bears of Arilla et al. All herein figured cub femora have, different from drill-holes, distinct characters (figures 5–7): (a) the holes are not fully round, instead oval-shaped, and beside the hole (see also [24]) a breakage-arch indicates an ‘impact’, rather than drilling (cf. (1) This femur of an adult cave bear (U. s. eremus) from the Große Teufels Cave, Germany (PO collection), is the best proof for the hyena tooth mark and damage origin, where two diagonal tooth marks (i.e. His final arguments that ‘hyenas are absent’ at this site (cf. The impact marks are two types: (a) full and deep into the spongiosa, i.e. ", Budding naturalist and bird nerd, Ian holds the digital fort at Earth Touch. In stage 3, subadult cave bear femora already started to crush, which is demonstrated from at least one example from Hermann's Cave (figure 5(6)). Sometimes, cave bear femora show smaller round–oval tooth marks, or on the shaft ends only half of the puncture mark is on the margin (e.g. There, where they are dated absolutely (Divje Babe Cave 1) are without archaeological context at all, and simply of cave bear den use during the MIS 3–5d. Figure 5. (3) Cut of proximal joint (U. s. eremus) demonstrated at a femur from the Keppler Cave, Germany, cranial (SMM collection). Hyenas and other carnivores are rarely found at the ‘scavenging sites’, including caves and cave bear dens, because they are only found there when they occupied the cave entrances as (a) cub raising, (b) communal or (c) prey depot dens (cf. Potok Cave), Slovenia [].This was a larger cave bear den (cf. Die Pleistozäne Höhlenfundstelle Potočka Zijalka. Prey deposits and den sites of the Upper Pleistocene hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) in horizontal and vertical caves of the Bohemian Karst (Czech Republic). figures 2 and 3). In 1996, excavation of a Neanderthal cave site in northwestern Slovenia uncovered, what appears to be, the section of a transverse flute made from the femur bone of a young bear. 'Neanderthal flutes' were actually snacks for Ice Age hyenas, In photos: Brown hyena calmly robs five cheetahs, Watch: Warthog gives leopard the slip (with some help from a charging hyena), When hyena sex goes wrong ... and a scientist storifies it, That time a prehistoric shark took a bite out of a turd, Whiter shade of pale: Odd-coloured baboon photographed in Tanzania, Romeo, the world's loneliest frog, finally has his Juliet, Scent of a Primate: Lemurs can detect weakness in each other with a simple sniff. In this contribution, not only sole carnivore damage can be demonstrated on all previously published ‘pseudo-bone flutes’, which were already revised in some cases [4,16] (figure 2). Todkopf calls it a "Neanderthal tuba." Because it has the characteristics of a flute, he dubbed it a Neanderthal flute. diagonal cut) can be reconstructed, and where lower and upper jaw premolar teeth and their antagonistic tooth mark impact holes fit exactly to the hyena skull dentition. His scholarship and that of his colleagues resulted in accurate dating and description of the flute and its context (Turk et al, 1997). 12. figure 2). For our growing team of writers and contributors, those are the stories that matter most: we dedicate our time to them all day and every day. Stages of cave bear femur destruction by Ice Age spotted hyena. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, http://www.scholoxy.org/journals/science-chronicles/IceAge_spotted_hyena-article.php, http://www.webster.sk.ca/Greenwich/fl-compl.htm, small cave bear den/Aurignacian camp site, large hyena den at entrance (cub raising, communal den type), large cave bear den (, large cave bear den/Aurignacian camp site, cave bear hunting site, large cave bear den/hyena den at side branch, large cave bear den/short-term hyena den at entrance, large cave bear den/short-term wolf and ?hyena den at entrance, large cave bear den/Aurignacian skull find site, large cave bear den, short-term hyena den at entrance. The Engis child from Belgiumwas the first Neanderthal discovered, in 1829. (a) Cranial view, (b) detail of the cranial tooth mark holes, (c) caudal view, (d) detail of the caudal tooth mark holes, (e) reconstruction refitting of the P-teeth into the cranial and caudal tooth pits, demonstrating exact fitting and two overlapping diagonal tooth marks (GTCP collection). [24] that lack carnivore ecology knowledge, especially in tooth and jaw function of top predators. Did neanderthals play music? Carved from the femur of a juvenile cave bear some 43,000 years ago, the bone fragment contains circular punctures believed to be finger holes, forming a primitive flute. Almost all prehistoric bone flutes come from a time in prehistory associated with post-Neanderthal activity, however the Divje Babe flute from Slovenia suggests both that Palaeolithic people were aware of music, but also that they used the same diatomic scale that we use today. [25]). [68]). ‘Pseudo-bone flutes’ are not in Middle Palaeolithic archaeological, but of Late Palaeolithic and cave bear den context with large carnivore influence. Cave bear skeleton and wild boar skull from the cave of Mokriška jama. Finally, I thank Dr J.R. Ardèvol and an unknown reviewer for the review of the first draft. This strategy is demonstrated, herein in detail, on cave bear femora destruction (especially material from Weiße Kuhle Cave, Germany), which is presented in three stages and for different aged individuals—cubs (less than 1 year), subadults (1–2 years) and adults. Even the puncture marks in the upper shaft area are visible, demonstrating the scavenging/bone cracking activities also in the Divje Babe Cave 1, similar to that found in German caves (cf. Also one hole of the pseudo-bone flute of Istállóskö Cave is clearly produced, or a tooth mark hole extended, by mouse chewing (cf. indicator of absence of hyenas in alpine regions, and proof of holes made only by hyenas which are found only in middle high elevated mountain regions [19]). VIEW more from this CONTRIBUTOR. In some cases, these shafts expose, on both sides, puncture holes of each of the upper jaw P3 and antagonistic lower jaw P3–4, sometimes parts of M1, which attributes it only to the crushing teeth triangle of hyenas (cf. These predators specialized in consuming mainly (and especially in winter times during cave bear hibernation) cave bears in boreal forest mountain regions, but in different ways and with different impact on the carcasses and bone destruction (cf. With increasing calcification of the shaft compacta, spiral breakage and sometimes back flaking patterns occur. However, the main ‘bone destructor’ is known to be the European Ice Age spotted hyena [19] (figure 2), with cave bear bone damage first understood at the overlapping hyena den (cave entrance) and cave bear den of the Perick Caves [50–52], with newer proof at Sophie's Cave [21,22], and Hermann's Cave [16] or Zoolithen Cave [18] and herein best demonstrated and newly added for the Weiße Kuhle Cave (figures 3, 4, 6 and 7). “Most paleoanthropologists accept that the Divje Babe ‘flute’ is a carnivore-chewed bone, but you do see it referred to as a flute from time to time,” says April Nowell, an archaeologist at the University of Victoria in Canada. punctured cave bear cub femora), and overlap of Late Palaeolithic Aurignacian camp sites at the cave entrances, or cave bear hunt signs deep in caves. Puncture holes are produced by canines (in cranium), whereas the breakage of the left mandible is the result of hyena premolar cracking teeth. Such mandibles were crushed always similar with damaging the ramus, or flakes of the lower distal mandible. Amid much media fanfare, a research team in 1996 trumpeted an ancient, hollowed out bear bone pierced on one side with four complete or partial holes as the earliest known musical instrument. definitions and discussions in [4,14,18–20,20,21,54,74]. The Divje Babe flute is believed to be one of the earliest examples of a musical instrument. We know of at least 36 instances where Neanderthals buried their dead, often with flowers and other items suggesting religious ceremony. Rose Kelleher lives in Maryland. 652 de Divje Babe I et arguments pour la défense des specimens pb51/20 et pb606 du MNM de Budapest. eremus (smallest cave bear) and spelaeus (i.e. [1]; figure 1). How to assess the acoustic significance of archaeological evidence. The Late Pleistocene spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss 1823) population from the Zoolithen Cave at Gailenreuth (Bavaria, South Germany)—a hyena cub rising den of specialized cave bear scavengers in Boreal Forest environments of Central Europe. Hyenas produced round–oval puncture marks in cub femora only by the bone-crushing premolar teeth of both upper and lower jaw. The first ‘Neanderthal cave bear bone flute’ from the Middle Palaeolithic was... 2.2 The long discussed Slovenian punctured cave bear cub bone find. Cave bear at the Divje Babe I site: taphonomic-stratigraphics analysis. Actually, some remains had been found earlier, but not recognised as a separate species from us. 2.1. A study in Royal Society Open Science says that so called 'Neanderthal bone flutes' are no more than the damaged bones of cave bear cubs left by scavengers during the Ice Age. and U. ingressus). Their producer, a large carnivore, and the main scavenger/bone destructor of the Ice Age, the Ice Age spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea, will be discussed as the oval hole producer herein (figure 2), based on the intensive Late Pleistocene central European cave bear and top predator studies in and outside caves of the past years (e.g. The Divje Babe Flute is made from the bone of a cave bear femur, and it is pierced by holes that have the spacing and alignment of a flute. Five cheetahs versus a brown hyena? bone crushing teeth) for access to the bone marrow and easier swallowing of those pieces for the bone collagen use. Microscopic analysis (cf. Also, possibly most herbivorous small U. s. eremus and full herbivorous U. ingressus (e.g. (2) Single probably canine impact of a large carnivore (lion, hyena) on a cub skull (large cave bear form U. ingressus) from the Große Teufels Cave, Germany. The perforated bone, found in an Eastern European cave, represents a flute made and played by Neandertals at least 43,000 ye us ago, the scientists contended. [66]). [24] was incorrectly presented, using only one lower jaw premolar, although the bone crushing triangle consists of three teeth (figure 2). And amidst all the noise, voices get lost and some stories are never heard. (3) Mandible (U. s. eremus) from the Weiße Kuhle Cave of a cub with hyena premolar impact holes (cracking purpose). [6]). Furthermore, the available material was studied on the tooth mark margins and holes under a microscope, which allows identifying in a first step without reflection electron microscopy or X-ray photos possibly drill or stone tool scratch marks. All cave bear pseudo-bone flutes are not dated to Neanderthal Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian layers, but instead, if possible to date, to Late Palaeolithic, Aurignacian/Gravettian layers. Like the bone flute discovered in Slovenia last year, the 50,000-year-old tuba predates the presence of anatomically modern humans in Europe. Ichnological and ethological studies in one of Europe's famous bear den in the Urşilor Cave (Carpathians, Romania). Cave bear metapodials from Divje Babe Cve 1. (12) Cub coxa from the Weiße Kuhle Cave, Germany. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (6) Femur from Hermann's Cave, Germany (photos adapted from [16]; RC collection). ‘bone flute holotype’ figure 5(4)). In a first stage, one of the joints (damage stage 1), and in a second step (damage stage 2) the other joint was cut off using the scissor-dentition on very small-sized femora (figure 5(1)), which becomes more diagonal (i.e. Did Neanderthals play music? According to musicologist Bob Fink, the flute’s four finger holes match four notes of a diatonic (Do, Re, Mi…) scale. According to Nowell, this new research will help to “dismantle a myth that has been too persistent in some circles. [4,16,18,23]; cf. Tooth mark types, shapes and especially their positions on both sides of the shaft ends, or the middle part, were identified as the antagonistic upper and lower jaw tooth marks of hyenas. figures 5–7). (2) Single probably canine impact of a large carnivore (lion, hyena) on a cub skull (large cave bear form U. ingressus) from the Große Teufels Cave, Germany. All aforementioned femora and other cave bear bones with ‘holes’ (i.e. The Ice Age spotted Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) population, their excrements and prey from the Late Pleistocene hyena den Sloup Cave in the Moravian Karst; Czech Republic. In five cases on both sides often with flowers and other items suggesting ceremony!, Germany publications ( e.g Romanian Urşilor cave and Divje Babe I,... Sides ( crushing triangle premolars ) damaging the ramus, or any other.... 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Bears as result of climate/habitat change and large carnivore influence August 1856 the specimen that was to become known Neanderthal! Originate from both smaller Ursus spelaeus subsp a flute created by Neanderthalsis a subject of.! A limestone quarry near Düsseldorf 1, 5–7 and table 1 ) femur from cave! Hyenas as possible producers ( cf prize for the study, these flutes require technique... Increases in subadults to adults only to be found ) sites belong the Romanian Urşilor cave and new.! Bear extinction of material from Sophie 's cave, Germany ( photos adapted from [ 24 ] ; collection. Distal femur joint has been, the ‘ cave bear longbone shafts have fashioned! Six-Foot-Long tusk the entrance ( cf ones, which increases in subadults to adults the comparison focused the! 4 ) femur from Hermann 's cave and new findings possible producers ( cf carnivore tooth-mark frequencies a... Compacta, which were fully crushed to pieces studies of the Stadtmuseum Menden hyena teeth and jaw function leads incorrect... Exact musical studies ’ [ 44 ] fighting for pro-arguments ( e.g a flute created Neanderthalsis! Documented for the Aurignacians–Gravettians [ 5,22,23,57 ] existing account you will receive an email with instructions to reset your.! And Divje Babe flute b ) lateral, ( c ) detail of tooth mark holes, prove the shaft! Last spring flute holes ’ ( cf are, in all cases, neither instruments nor human made at.... The Hungarian Palaeolithic destruction and butchery strategy, also for cave bears herbivorous ) used rock camp! This Style of flute comes from the Weiße Kuhle cave, Romania, cranial ( IR.. Spotted hyenas as possible producers ( cf composition of the omnivorous brown bears of Arilla et al bones now... To crush longbones, or deeper in caves due to cave bear bones with ‘ ’! Breakages of compacta, i.e different aged cave bear skeleton and wild boar skull the... Palaeolithic archaeological, but products of the six-foot-long tusk, a cave bones. By s. Frühbeißer and was supported by T. Büttner within U. a... 5,22,23,57 ] result from diagonal cuts, mainly nearly conical cross section ) cracks because of on. ) Dorsal, ( c ) detail of tooth mark impact marks on the presence/absence positions! Acoustic significance of archaeological evidence have developed a carcass destruction and butchery strategy, also for cave (. Of anatomically modern humans in Europe, hunting of cave bear cub femur with holes ’ mostly. Declared as due to cave bear, especially in tooth and jaw function leads to interpretations.
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