2021-03-10

We tend to think about people who lived in the distant past in simple terms: they ate, slept, hunted, and occasionally painted on cave walls.  Other than that, we might assume, there was not much complexity in their lives.  But experts who study ancient peoples would tell us something different –  that there was a whole other layer to their lives, including such things as rituals, art, and music.

Archaeologists are scientists who use material evidence to try to piece together prehistory.  Last month, there was a discovery within a discovery.  Researchers in France took a new look at an artifact that had been dug up 90 years ago.  They realized that it was much more than had originally met the eye….

In 1931, researchers had found a large conch shell at the Marsoulas Cave archaeological site in the French Pyrenees Mountains.  They brought it back to Toulouse, France, along with other artifacts from the famous cave, and put it on a shelf in the Natural History Museum of Toulouse.  They decided that the shell had been used as a ceremonial drinking vessel.

Recently, however, researchers from the University of Toulouse, were looking through some artifacts at the museum.  When they came across the shell, they happened to notice that it had some previously unnoticed holes that appeared to have been made by human hands.  Most striking was a 1.4-inch (3.5-cm) hole at the tip of the shell.  It had been thought that the hole was the result of natural wear and tear.  This was improbable, though, because it was in the hardest part of the shell and unlikely to break off on its own.  Using a microscope, the archaeologists saw that the hole was perfectly round with a smoothly crafted edge.  It must have been deliberately carved into the shell.  The scientists think that some kind of mouthpiece, possibly made of a hollow bone, had been inserted into the hole.  They found traces of a residue that might have been used to glue the mouthpiece in place.   Using a tiny camera, the scientists also discovered another hole drilled on the inside of the shell.  Finally, they identified markings made with the same red ochre color that was found in the paintings on the walls of the Marsoulas cave.

The researchers realized that the shell that had been sitting in Toulouse since 1931, was probably the oldest seashell wind instrument ever discovered.

The scientists estimate the shell instrument to be about 18,000 years old, matching the ages of other artifacts found at the Marsoulas Cave site.  A horn player was invited to blow into the shell.  This made Carole Fritz, an archaeologist who was part of the research team that published an article about the shell in the journal, Science Advances, very nervous.  It was a risky act that might have damaged the fragile instrument.  But luckily, all that resulted was the horn-player literally breathing new life into an instrument that had sat silent for so long.  The three pitches – C, C-sharp, and D – could be clearly discerned and were recorded.  To hear the haunting sound it made, click here.