12,000-Year-Old Tiny Bone Flutes Found in Israel That Imitate Predatory Birds

One of the seven miniature bone flutes found in Hula Valley, in Northern Israel. (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Tiny bones from 12,000-year-old prehistoric birds found in northern Israel have been identified as flutes, researchers say.

The seven miniature flutes, made of waterfowl bones, emit sounds like the calls of predatory birds, and the researchers suggest they might have been used for making music, hunting, or some form of communication with the birds.

The paper that uncovered the findings was published on June 9 in Nature Scientific Report.

It was authored by Dr. Laurent Davin, a post-doctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Centre de Recherche Français à Jérusalem (CRJF), and Dr. José-Miguel Tejero, the University of Vienna and the University of Barcelona, Spain.

The flutes were found in the prehistoric swamp site Eynan-Mallaha in the Hula Lake Basin of the Upper Jordan Valley of Northern Israel.

One of the flutes that was discovered is complete, according to the researchers, and so far as is known it is the only one in the world in this state of preservation.

In the circular structures found in the settlement—which was first excavated in 1955—bones of a variety of animal species, including birds, were found. These were the homes of the hunter-gatherers.

Through a variety of analyses, the researchers demonstrated that the bones were intentionally manufactured more than 12,000 years ago to produce a range of sounds, which were close to raptor calls. They speculate that the tiny flutes could have been used to attract prey while hunting.

The researchers examined the bones of birds that were recovered by the excavators, as part of the material culture study and funerary offerings at the site from the final Natufian period.

Most of the bones are from wintering waterfowl.

Demonstration of using a replica of the whistle in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Laurent Davin)

The scientists noticed marks on seven tiny wing bones of Eurasian coots and Eurasian teals. Examination of these marks found that they are very tiny holes bored into the hollow bones.

In order to figure out how the objects were used, the researchers created replicas of the originals.

As part of an experiment carried out on the replica, it was found that the instruments produce different sounds and it was thus concluded that they functioned as flutes.

When the sounds were compared with the calls of dozens of bird species that were found on the site, they proved to resemble those of birds of prey—the Eurasian Sparrowhawk and the Common Kestrel.

One of the theories is that these flutes functioned as a whistle. People equipped with the flutes took up a position near waterfowl and when the sparrowhawks and kestrels, attracted by the whistle calls, approached, the waterfowl flew off in different directions, which made them easier to be caught.

It also seems likely, according to the researchers, that in the ensuing confusion, the birds of prey themselves could be trapped. Their claws were used in several ways, including as ornaments and for piercing bones for making new whistles.

“If the flutes were used for hunting, then this is the earliest evidence of the use of sound in hunting,” said Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily of the Israel Antiquities Authority according to a press statement. In most sites from the same period, these instruments deteriorated and vanished, he said, and consequently, the tiny flutes were found as a result of careful and gentle sieving of the excavation finds using water.

This discovery provides new information on hunting methods and supplements the various prehistorical tools in the southern Levant, said Khalaily.

The sounds produced by the flutes could have served different social-cultural-symbolic functions for the hunter-gatherers at the site, the researchers suggest and add to other findings that demonstrate the complexity of the people of the Natufian culture.

The Natufian archaeological culture from about 15,000 to 11,700 years ago “marks the transition from hunter-gatherer Palaeolithic societies into fully-fledged agricultural economies of the Neolithic,” according to the paper.

The Natufians were the first known hunter-gatherers in the Levant that adopted a sedentary lifestyle, as is known through the material culture that has been left (e.g., graveyards, artistic manifestations, and durable stone-built structures).

The Natufians from Eynan-Mallaha hunted other larger birds of prey such as eagles, hawks, and goshawks, and larger waterfowl such as geese, swans, and mallards. Thus, they had a large availability of bigger bird bones. So it seems they deliberately chose the short and narrow bird bones as blanks for wind instruments, according to the report.

Tiny holes in hollow bird bones that were meticulously perforated to make miniature wind instruments that mimic the sounds of predatory birds, in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Laurent Davin)

Although similar aerophones have been found in later archaeological cultures, this is the first known instance of artificial bird sounds in a Paleolithic site.

The current research shows “how important it is to preserve the cultural finds uncovered during excavations, which continue to yield new insights and research directions into human culture, thanks to new methods and to collaboration among scholars in different disciplines,” said Prof. Rivka Rabinovich of the Institute of Archaeology and scientific director of the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University.