Ancient World

Divje Babe flute

The Divje Babe flute, also called tidldibab, is a cave bear femur pierced by spaced holes that was unearthed in 1995 during systematic archaeological excavations led by the Institute of Archaeology of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, at the Divje Babe I near Cerkno in northwestern Slovenia. It has been suggested that it was made by Neanderthals as a form of musical instrument, and became known as the Neanderthal flute. The artifact is on prominent public display in the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana as a Neanderthal flute. As such, it would be the world's oldest known musical instrument. This claim was met with severe criticism and dispute within the scientific community. There are no other known instances of a Neanderthal musical instrument, and such a find from the Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) might indicate previously unknown symbolic behavior among Neanderthals.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Crannog
• ▸Cougar
• ▸Dih (archaeology)

Uncatalogued shelf

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