The most ancient musical instrument has been found. He still works

In 1931, inside the French cave Marsoulas,scientists have discovered the shell of a predatory sea snail. It has been suggested that it was used as a cup by the ancients, so the object was sent into storage and was quickly forgotten. Scientists recently decided to study the shell again and found several oddities in it. First, a hole was made at one end, that is, it was through. Secondly, holes were found along the edges of the shell. Since the object resembled a primitive wind instrument, the scientists decided to seek help from a musicologist. It turned out that all this time the researchers were really dealing with a musical instrument. And very old, because its age was estimated at 18,000 years. The great thing about this news is that three notes can still be extracted from this instrument. Let's hear how it sounds?

A musical instrument that was created 18,000 years ago is still working

The very first wind instrument in history

The Daily Mail reported about the unusual find.The Marsoulas Cave is located in France, about 650 kilometers from Paris. It has been a historical monument since 1910, and for good reason. The fact is that on its walls there are drawings left by ancient people. Moreover, the scientists managed to find the remains of charcoal and bear bones inside, that is, people spent quite a lot of time in it. The above-mentioned shell of the sea snail of the Charonia lampas species was also found there. It was assumed that the sink was intended for drinking, but the actual function of this object turned out to be more interesting.

Shell of the sea snail Charonia lampas

According to scientists, in ancient times, shells were usuallyserved as utensils and that is why they first jumped to conclusions. They should have taken into account that the object could also be used as a musical instrument. The age of the remains of coal and bones found near the shell was 18,000 years old, therefore, the musical instrument is just as old. According to researchers, they managed to find the most ancient wind instrument in the world and this is a very important event for the scientific community.

See also: What do scientists know about people's musical tastes?

The very first music

Recognize a musical instrument turnedrather difficult, because the holes made on it were invisible. Only on close examination did it become clear that the pointed end of the shell had been carefully removed to make it through. Additional holes have been detected using computed tomography, which allows you to look inside objects without breaking them. There were two of them in total, thanks to which the instrument could play three notes: C, D and C sharp. One of the notes was played when the person did not cover any of the auxiliary holes.

Drawing on the wall of the cave Marsoulas

Many sources say that the mostthe first musical instruments were flutes made of bird bones and mammoth tusks. Now we can assume that the first wind instruments were made from the shells of sea animals. It would be more logical to assume that the first musical instruments were percussion. Music is believed to have originated over 50,000 years ago, long before humans settled on all habitable continents. And, most likely, they extracted music by striking hard objects with sticks.

If you are interested in the news of science and technology, subscribe to our channel in Yandex. Dzen. There you will find materials that have not been published on the site!

It turns out that music accompanies us withtime immemorial. And she, without any doubt, is an integral part of our life today. Scientists are constantly studying music and its influence on the human body. At the end of 2020, I talked about what kind of music can harm human ears. And we are not talking about any particular musical genre - it has another feature that can be dangerous. If you're wondering what I'm hinting at, read this post.