EXARC Journal (Aug 2020)
Experimental Research on the Neanderthal Musical Instrument from Divje Babe I Cave (Slovenia)
Abstract
The supposition that an unusually perforated femur of a juvenile cave bear found at the Divje babe I Palaeolithic cave site in Slovenia could be a musical instrument led to heated debates. According to its archaeological context and chronostratigraphic position, if made by humans, it could only be attributed to Neanderthals. The crucial question was related to the origin of the perforations. These could only have been made either by the teeth of a carnivore or by modification of the bone by human intervention. Experimental piercing on fresh juvenile brown bear femora using metal dental casts of wolf, hyaena, and bear showed that the four perforations exactly aligned in the middle of the longitudinal axis of the diaphysis can not be reasonably explained by carnivore biting/gnawing action. Experimental archaeology showed that morphologically identical perforations could be made by replicas of stone and bone tools, found in the Mousterian levels of Divje babe I, without leaving any conventional tool marks (i.e. cuts and micro-striations left by stone tools). Recent musical experiments performed on a replica of the reconstructed find revealed its great musical capability.
