Archaeologists have managed to obtain almost perfect notes from a musical instrument that is more than 17,000 years old. This is a shell that was found in a hunter-gatherer cave in southern France, writes the BBC.
This artifact is the oldest known wind instrument of this type. Today, only bone flutes can claim to be superior in this regard.
The shell is 31 cm long and 18 cm wide, most likely home to a variety of cold-water Atlantic sea snail, Charonia lampas. It was found by archaeologists in the 1930s. All the while, they thought it was a ceremonial drinking bowl.
However, an analysis by a group led by the French National Center for Scientific Research turned this interpretation upside down.
Scientists have discovered deliberate modifications to the shell that improved its ability to produce sound, even with the ability to modulate it.
The researchers asked a professional musician to try to get the sound out of the shell, and to their delight, he was able to reproduce notes close to C, C-sharp, and D.
“The sound power is amazing – about 100 decibels per meter. And the sound is very directed along the axis of the sink hole,” said Philip Walter of the Sorbonne University.
In addition, scientists discovered a pattern on the inner surface of the shell. The patterns made with iron oxide pigment (red ocher) are shaped like fingerprints. The caves in the French commune of Marsoulas, where the instrument was found, are painted in the same style.
“As far as we know, for the first time in European history, it has been possible to establish a relationship between music and rock art,” said Gilles Toselli, a scientist at the University of Toulouse.
Researchers have created a 3D copy of the artifact to further study the artifact.
The shell-wielding Upper Paleolithic people were part of what archaeologists call the Madeleine culture. She was distinguished by a special approach to making tools.
In January, archaeologists found in Indonesia the oldest rock art depicting animals (wart pigs), they consider it the oldest “work of art” known.
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