What music in the prehistoric era?

Bones and conches have been modified to produce notes

What differentiates man from animal? Of course, the first answer that comes to mind is intelligence. After all, the tools and techniques we have developed have put us at the top of the food chain. But what if we omit the artistic part as well? Indeed, archaeological digs tend to show that more than 40,000 B.C., early humans were drawing scenes of daily life on caves.

Or, archaeologists like Carole Fritz have found prototypes of musical instruments from this period. Whether it's flutes made from vulture bones or stones forming a lithophone, it does seem that our ancestors already had a desire to create music.

A conch shell was even modified for this purpose and today we are able to reproduce the notes of this instrument. However, musical practices were not really for entertainment. They were used for communication and in spiritual rites.

Time: 3min16