2023-06-14 08:47:56
Time.news – Sette ancient wind instruments they were recently identified by a French-Israeli team and are the subject of an article published in Nature Scientific Reports. The discovery took place in the prehistoric site of Eynan-Mallaha in northern Israel which, although it has been thoroughly examined since 1955, continues to hold surprises for scientists.
The discovery of these flutes of 12,000 years ago it is extremely rare: in fact, they are the first to be discovered in the Near East. The flutes made from the bones of a small water bird, they produce a sound similar to that of some birds of prey (sparhawk and common kestrel) when air is blown into them. The choice of bones used to make these instruments was not accidental: Larger birds have also been found at the site, with larger bones producing deeper sounds.
I Natufians, the ancient Near Eastern civilization that inhabited this village between 13,000 and 9,700 BC, purposely selected smaller bones in order to achieve the high-pitched sound needed to mimic these particular birds of prey. The instruments may have been used for hunting, music, or for communicating with the birds themselves. It is evident that the Natufians attached special symbolic value to birds, as evidenced by the numerous ornaments made with claws found at Eynan-Mallaha.
The village, located on the shores of Lake Hula, has been home to this civilization for its 3,000 years of existence. It is therefore vital to unravel the practices and habits of a culture at the crossroads between nomadic and sedentary lifestyles, as well as to understand the transition from a predatory economy to agriculture. This work was supported by the Fyssen Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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