17,000-year-old wind instrument found to be oldest of its type

[FfFfFfFF 58,375]

A 17,000-year-old conch shell that lay forgotten for more than 80 years in a museum collection has been discovered to be the oldest known wind instrument of its type, after researchers found it had been modified by its prehistoric owners to be played like a horn.

First unearthed in a richly decorated cave in the Pyrenees in 1931, the large shell was initially overlooked by archaeologists, who assumed it was a communal “loving cup” used by the Palaeolithic people whose wall art adorns the space.

But a re-examination of the conch, carried out during a recent inventory of items held at the Muséum de Toulouse in southern France, has revealed that it had in fact been carefully drilled and shaped to hold what experts now believe was a mouthpiece.

Remarkably, a skilled horn player enlisted by the multi-disciplinary team of French scientists was able to produce three clear notes of C, D and C sharp from the artefact, offering a tantalising hint of how it sounded to its original owners.

The conch, the team discovered, had also been decorated in its inner whorls with red pigment marks strikingly similar to fingerprint artworks on the walls of the cave.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/10/conch-shell-in-french-museum-found-to-be-17000-year-old-wind-instrument

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

inb4 some messy hunty: play with my ancient conch pls

[Killa 18,853]

Thanks this is amazing, this is a most advanced instrument. Just might read more and use it for my tuesday exam fufu

[Gaga Lazuli 8,658]

Rumor has it that the saxophone used in Babylon was actually this conch

[MJHolland 12,725]

1 hour ago, Chromatislaps said:

inb4 some messy hunty: play with my ancient conch pls

Honestly, I had to look up what communal "loving cup" was bc I was like 

[GooberChill 456]

Someone please play it and summon Lugia.