As I was stargazing last night, I found myself thinking about the people who made these flutes somewhere in the 35,000 to 40,000 BC range. We might share a lot of DNA, but if I were to suddenly appear to them, well, I might as well be an alien for all that we have in common culturally.
It all got me to thinking - what do we know about these people and how do we know it? How would music have fit into their world view? How much have the stars moved in that time?
And I’d give a couple of limbs to be allowed to play one of those flutes. I know, I’m not even a woodwind guy, so there are about 1.2 billion more qualified people ahead of me in line, but that’s still better odds than most lotteries. A friend to whom I was speaking said “No way I’d put my mouth on that thing.”, but I’d jump at the chance.
Oh, one more question - how many humans would have been on the planet at that time?
All of my history books that could mention anything useful about this period are in storage right now, but if memory serves, there were maybe 10,000 humans on the planet around this period. Neanderthals are dying out, Cro-Magnons are on the increase. Can anyone confirm or deny?
Astronomically, that was a blink of an eye. The North Pole would be in a different position relative to the stars (it would not have been right on top of alpha Ursa Minoris, AKA Polaris, the way it is now), and which constellations were visible in which seasons would have been different, but all of the stars, with the slight exception of really close-by ones like Sirius, would have been in exactly the same positions relative to each other.
As for their culture, the linked article doesn’t say anything about it, but you could at least learn what sort of scale structure they had for their music, from the spacing of the holes on the flute.
PBS had a show about music on a couple of nights ago and a prehistoric flute was featured in one section. An archeologist played a copy of the flute. It was determined that the scale was very similar to the scale we have now, with common notes. The physics of sound waves and vibrations hasn’t changed even if humanity has.
That’s interesting about the similar scale and common notes. Our notes in Western music aren’t in common with one another over the last 250 years; the universal pitch A has shifted from 423 hz to 440 hz since the Baroque era. Also, the notion of universal pitch is a relatively new one - Medieval string players used to just crank up the tension until the string sounded good.
Flutes are different - unless a join is made somewhere in the instrument, its tuning is dependent on breath support and fingering. Fascinating to think about a pre-historic maker of a bone flute. How many would someone make in a lifetime? One, one a year? How would they measure where to make the holes?
I’d love to see that show - do you remember what it was called?
Oh nos! The scientific experts disagree with one another! All science must be wrong! Creationism is true! So is astrology! And homeopathy! And Timecube!
Astrology has to adjust. My wife, who used to draw charts for money using the star chart in her head, claims to be an Orion because, on the day she was born, the Sun had left Gemini, spent a few hours in Orion, then entered Cancer. :rolleyes:
Must be time for one of those Pasrallel Universe shows.
I think I look good with a satanic beard. When I last shaved mine off, one of my co-workers called my wife to persuade her to make me grow it back.
