Earliest Known Musical Instruments (Archaeological Evidence)

TL;DR

• The oldest known musical instruments are bone flutes from the Upper Paleolithic, with the controversial Divje Babe flute possibly dating to 50,000-60,000 years ago.
• Confirmed early flutes from Germany (42,000-43,000 years old) and France show sophisticated musical traditions among early modern humans.
• Wind instruments diversified with conch shell horns (17,000 years old) and bullroarers extending back to 18,000 BCE.
• Percussion instruments include ancient stone lithophones and the oldest known drums from China (5,500 years old).
• String instruments appear later in the archaeological record, with the famous Lyres of Ur (4,500 years old) being the earliest surviving examples.
• These finds demonstrate that music-making is one of humanity’s most ancient and universal cultural practices.
• Archaeological evidence spans every continent and shows independent invention of musical technology across cultures.

Earliest Known Musical Instruments (Archaeological Evidence)#

Music has deep prehistoric roots, and archaeologists have unearthed numerous ancient instruments around the world. This overview highlights the earliest known musical instruments by type – from flutes and horns to bullroarers, drums, and string instruments – along with their approximate ages, discovery sites, materials, and cultural contexts. All information is based on verified archaeological discoveries (no myths or inferred uses), providing a global perspective on humanity’s first instruments.

Upper Paleolithic Bone Flutes (Wind Instruments)#

One of the oldest confirmed musical instruments is the bone flute, which appears in the Upper Paleolithic era. These early flutes were typically made from bird bones or mammoth ivory and have been discovered in Europe and Asia:

• Divje Babe Flute (Slovenia) – A cave bear femur with drilled holes from Divje Babe Cave, dated roughly 50,000–60,000 years ago. It is possibly a Neanderthal-made flute, and if authentic, it stands as the world’s oldest known instrument. The specimen has four holes and was found near a Neanderthal hearth, though its man-made origin has been debated (some argue the holes could be animal bite marks). Despite debate, the National Museum of Slovenia displays it as a Neanderthal flute.

• Geisenklösterle Flutes (Germany) – The oldest unambiguous flutes made by modern humans, excavated in Geisenklösterle Cave (Swabian Jura, Germany). Three flutes (two from mute swan bones and one from mammoth ivory) were dated to about 42,000–43,000 years old, linked to the Aurignacian culture. These flutes are among the oldest instruments in the world and indicate a well-established musical tradition as modern humans entered Europe.

• Hohle Fels Flute (Germany) – Discovered in Hohle Fels Cave and dated to 35,000–40,000 years ago. Carved from a griffon vulture wing bone, this flute is about 21.5 cm long and is one of the most complete Paleolithic flutes found. Its discovery in 2008 provided further evidence of Upper Paleolithic musical culture, as replicas of the flute have been successfully played by researchers.

• Isturitz Flutes (France) – Dozens of flute fragments (over 20 pieces) were found in Isturitz Cave, southwestern France, from layers ranging 20,000–35,000 years old. Made of vulture wing bones, at least two nearly complete flutes (22k–28k years old, Gravettian period) show polished finger holes – clear wear from play. These finds show that multiple Upper Paleolithic cultures (Aurignacian, Gravettian, Magdalenian) crafted flutes.

• Jiahu Flutes (China) – The oldest musical instruments in East Asia come from Jiahu, an early Neolithic site in the Yellow River Valley (~7000–5700 BCE). Archaeologists uncovered bone flutes ~9,000 years old, carved from the wing bones of the red-crowned crane. Over 30 flutes were found (20 intact), some with 5–8 finger holes. Notably, six are complete and still playable – in fact, one was played to produce a scale similar to the modern “do-re-mi”. These Jiahu flutes are the oldest multi-note instruments yet discovered in China.

Bone flutes from the Jiahu site in China (~8,000–9,000 years old). These Neolithic flutes, made from crane wing bones, are among the earliest multi-note instruments and were found in tombs at Jiahu. The best-preserved examples can still produce musical scales that correspond to modern tones.

The prevalence of flutes in Upper Paleolithic contexts (Europe) and early Neolithic contexts (China) suggests that wind instruments were one of humanity’s first devised musical tools. Their materials (hollow bird bones or mammalian bones) and careful hole placement indicate a deliberate craft to produce specific tones. These ancient flutes likely played a role in social bonding and ritual in early human groups.

Conch Shell Horns (Paleolithic Wind Instrument)#

While flutes dominate early wind instruments, a unique discovery in France extends the history of lip-reed instruments (horns) into the Ice Age:

• Marsoulas Conch Shell – In Marsoulas Cave (French Pyrenees), archaeologists re-examined a large sea snail shell (species Charonia lampas) originally found in 1931. This shell, dated to about 17,000 years ago (Magdalenian period), had been carefully modified to serve as a wind instrument. The shell’s apex was deliberately drilled/perforated and likely fitted with a mouthpiece (traces of a brown resinous substance were found). The exterior bears red pigment dots matching cave art on the cave walls, suggesting ritual significance. When a horn player blew into the shell, it produced three clear musical notes. This Marsoulas conch is the oldest known conch-shell trumpet and shows that Upper Paleolithic humans used natural horns for music or signaling. It is an exceptionally rare find – possibly the only known Paleolithic shell horn – underscoring that beyond flutes, prehistoric people also experimented with other wind instruments.

Bullroarers (Aerodynamic Instrument)#

The bullroarer is an ancient instrument consisting of a flat slat (usually wood or bone) attached to a cord, which produces a roaring hum when whirled in the air. Archaeological evidence shows bullroarers have remarkable antiquity and geographic spread:

• Upper Paleolithic Bullroarers – Examples identified as bullroarers have been found in late Ice Age sites. Notably, a carved ivory piece from Magdalenian-era France (~13,000 B.C.) was reported by Abbé Henri Breuil as a Paleolithic bullroarer. It was incised with geometric patterns and interpreted as a ritual object akin to Aboriginal Australian bullroarers. Even older, fragments from Ukraine dated to ~17,000 B.C. have been interpreted as bullroarers. These finds suggest the bullroarer tradition extends back to the Late Paleolithic in Europe. In addition, Mesolithic-era bullroarers (e.g. an ~8,500-year-old bone bullroarer in Scandinavia) are among the earliest instruments in those regions.

• Global Distribution – Archaeologists have since found ancient bullroarers (or plausible examples) on every inhabited continent except Antarctica. For instance, Neolithic sites like Çatalhöyük in Turkey (c. 7000 B.C.) yielded artifacts thought to be bullroarers among ritual items. At Göbekli Tepe (c. 9500 B.C.) in Anatolia, oval bone pieces with holes closely resemble bullroarers. These discoveries imply the bullroarer was one of humanity’s oldest ritual sound instruments, used in prehistoric Europe, Asia, and beyond. The oldest known example is often cited from Ukraine (~18,000 BCE), and Paleolithic tombs and caves in France have also yielded early bullroarers. By the later Holocene, bullroarers appear in sites across Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Australia, and the Americas, suggesting either independent invention or diffusion of this simple yet powerful instrument.

Bullroarers were typically made of wood in ethnographic examples (which seldom survive archaeologically), but the preservation of ivory and bone specimens in prehistoric contexts has given us insight into their antiquity. These instruments likely had ritual significance – ethnographically, the bullroarer’s eerie roar is often associated with shamanistic or initiation ceremonies, and the same may have been true in prehistory. Notably, the bullroarer’s long-distance sound and low-frequency roar made it useful for communication as well, and its continuous presence from the Paleolithic onwards highlights it as one of the longest-lived musical device traditions.

Percussion Instruments: Lithophones and Drums#

Percussive music – striking objects to create rhythm or tone – is another primordial form of musical expression. Because many percussion instruments were made of perishable wood or skin, early evidence is scarcer; however, archaeologists have identified some of the oldest examples of idiophones (self-sounding objects) and membranophones (drums):

• Lithophones (Stone Xylophones/Rock Gongs) – The term lithophone refers to musical stones that produce notes when struck. Some of the oldest known lithophones come from Neolithic contexts (c. 4000–10000 years ago). In Vietnam, a number of đàn đá (stone instrument) sets have been discovered – the first in 1949. One well-known set consists of 11 carefully shaped resonant slabs that can produce musical tones. Researchers estimate certain Vietnamese lithophones could be up to 6,000–10,000 years old. Similarly, lithophones or rock gongs are documented in other parts of the world: for example, at the Kupgal site in India, Neolithic petroglyph sites include rocks with clear evidence of intentional percussion use. In Africa, large resonant rocks in Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, and other countries (often found near ancient rock art) have been identified as rock gongs, potentially used in prehistoric rituals. These stone instruments demonstrate a very ancient human practice of creating music with the natural ringing properties of rocks.

• Early Drums (Membranophones) – Drums with skin heads are challenging to find archaeologically due to organic decay, but a notable find in East Asia provides a glimpse of early drums. Neolithic alligator-skin drums from China are the oldest known drum instruments discovered. At Dawenkou culture sites (c. 4000–3000 BCE) in the Yellow River valley, archaeologists found evidence of drums made with wooden frames or pottery bodies covered by alligator hides. These “alligator drums” have been dated to roughly 5500 years ago and are thought to have been used in shamanistic rituals. One such drum was found in a Dawenkou tomb, preserved well enough to identify the stretched alligator skin; it stands as the oldest recovered drum artifact. In literary records of ancient China (e.g. the Shijing odes), alligator drums are indeed mentioned in ceremonial contexts, corroborating the archaeological finds.

Beyond China, indirect evidence suggests drums were present in other early societies (e.g. 6th millennium BCE figurines in Mesopotamia and Egypt are sometimes depicted holding frame drums). Actual drum remains from those regions are rare; however, by the Bronze Age, drums become visible in the archaeological record (for example, Middle Eastern and Egyptian tomb paintings show drums, and a few surviving drum fragments or depictions date to ~3000–2000 BCE). An interesting recent find in Europe is the so-called “Fengate Drum” (UK) – actually a carved chalk object ~5,000 years old thought to be a symbolic or artistic representation of a drum. Overall, the oldest physical drum known is the Chinese alligator drum (~3500 BCE). But humans likely used simpler percussion (hand drums, rattles, etc.) long before; for example, even Paleolithic people could have used stretched skins or hollow logs as drums, though we lack direct evidence. What does survive from deeper prehistory are idiophones like rattles (a clay rattle from Cyprus ~200 B.C. has been found) and stone gongs, as noted above – indicating that percussion instruments in some form go back to the Stone Age.

Early String Instruments (Chordophones)#

Compared to wind and percussion instruments, stringed instruments (chordophones) appear later in the archaeological record, likely because they require more complex technology (strings, resonators) and often use perishable materials (wood). The oldest surviving evidence of string instruments comes from the Early Bronze Age:

The reconstructed “Golden Lyre of Ur” (~4,500 years old) on display. This ornate harp/lyre was excavated from the Royal Cemetery of Ur in Mesopotamia and is made of wood decorated with gold, lapis lazuli, and shell. It dates to about 2550 BCE and is one of the oldest surviving stringed instruments in the world.

• Lyres of Ur (Mesopotamia) – In 1929, Sir Leonard Woolley’s excavations at the Royal Cemetery of Ur (in modern-day Iraq) uncovered a set of ancient lyres dating to roughly 2550–2450 BCE. Four stringed instruments (three lyres and one harp) were found in the tombs, including the famous “Golden Lyre of Ur” adorned with a bull’s head of gold. The wooden parts had decayed, but the gold, silver, and shell inlays survived, allowing reconstruction of the lyres. These instruments are about 4,500 years old and are the oldest known surviving string instruments. They likely had around 11 strings and were played upright; one lyre was even found propped against a woman’s skeletal remains, with her hand where the strings would be – suggesting she may have been a court musician buried with her instrument. The Lyres of Ur hint that by the mid-3rd millennium BCE, complex music ensembles with harps and lyres were present in royal ceremonies.

• Other Early Harps/Lyres – Around the same period (2500–2000 BCE), string instruments appear in ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley in artwork and finds. For instance, Egyptian tomb paintings from the Old Kingdom show harps and bowed lyres, and a few fragments of wood that might be pieces of harps have been found in pharaonic tombs. In the Indus Valley (Harappan civilization), terracotta carvings from 3rd millennium BCE have been interpreted by some as depicting harp-like instruments, though physical remains are lacking. By the 2nd millennium BCE, evidences of lutes and lyres become more common (e.g. the Hittite and Egyptian cultures produced cave paintings or models of lutes). These later finds, however, fall outside the scope of the earliest instruments. It is the Mesopotamian lyres that firmly anchor the advent of stringed instruments in archaeological record.

Overall, the advent of string instruments likely post-dates wind and percussion instruments. It required the development of cordage (for strings) and woodworking for soundboxes. The fact that the lyres from Ur are so sophisticated (with lavish decoration and complex construction) suggests that even older stringed instruments (perhaps made of simple wood and gut) might have existed earlier but have not survived. The Lyres of Ur thus mark the earliest known point in time where music was not only played with flutes and drums but also with tunable strings – a major development in musical technology.

The collection of archaeological finds above shows that humans have been making music for tens of millennia. From Upper Paleolithic caves to Neolithic villages and Bronze Age cities, musical instruments have served social, ritual, and communicative functions. Below is a summary table of key early instruments discovered, listing their type, age, location, and materials:

Table: Key early musical instruments discovered archaeologically, with their estimated ages, find locations/cultures, and materials. “BP” = years before present; BCE dates are approximate. Sources for the data are indicated in brackets.

Each of these finds is archaeological (physical evidence) and expands our knowledge of early music. From the Ice Age flutes that likely echoed in cave chambers to the Neolithic drums and lithophones used in ritual ceremonies, it is clear that making music is an ancient and universal human endeavor. These instruments not only provided entertainment but often held ritual and social significance – for example, bullroarers were sacred communication devices, and alligator-skin drums in China were linked to shamanistic rites. The archaeological record, though fragmentary, emphatically shows that by at least 40,000 years ago (and likely earlier) humans in various parts of the world were crafting instruments to create music – a tradition that has continued unbroken to the present day.

FAQ#

Q: What is the oldest confirmed musical instrument? A: The oldest unambiguous musical instruments are bone flutes from Geisenklösterle Cave in Germany, dating to 42,000-43,000 years old. The Divje Babe flute from Slovenia may be older (50,000-60,000 years) but its identification as a man-made instrument is debated.

Q: Why do bone flutes dominate early musical instrument finds? A: Bone flutes survive well archaeologically because bone preserves better than wood or other organic materials. Additionally, bird bones are naturally hollow and relatively easy to modify into wind instruments, making them an obvious choice for early humans.

Q: Did Neanderthals make musical instruments? A: Possibly. The Divje Babe flute from Slovenia was found in a Neanderthal context and may represent the oldest known musical instrument, but some scholars argue the holes could be natural (from animal bite marks) rather than deliberately made.

Q: Why do string instruments appear so much later than wind and percussion instruments? A: String instruments require more complex technology including the development of cordage for strings, sophisticated woodworking for sound boxes, and understanding of tension and tuning. They represent a more advanced stage of technological development.

Q: What role did music play in prehistoric societies? A: Based on ethnographic parallels and archaeological context, early music likely served ritual, social bonding, communication, and ceremonial functions. Many instruments like bullroarers were associated with sacred or initiation ceremonies rather than entertainment.

Sources#

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3. Zhang, Juzhong, et al. “Earliest music from the Chinese Neolithic.” Antiquity 78 (2004): 769-778.

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5. Fritz, Carole, et al. “The sound of the Marsoulas cave (France): musical use of a decorated Palaeolithic conch.” Science Advances 7 (2021): eabe9510.

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