Percussion

Instruments [165,000
years ago]

 A percussion instrument is any object which

produces a sound by being hit with an
implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any
other acAon which sets the object into vibraAon.
The human voice was although the rst
discovered musical instrument, but percussion
instruments such as stones, sAcks, rocks, and logs
were almost certainly the next steps in the
evoluAon of music especially the stones, they
were cut in dierent shapes and designs to
change quality and pitch of sound.

Flute by Bob Flink [67,000 years ago]

 The date and origin of the rst device of disputed

status as a musical instrument dates back as far as
67,000 years old. In July 1995, Slovenian archaeologist
Ivan Turk discovered a bone carving in the northwest
region of Slovenia. The carving, named the Divje Babe
ute, features four holes that Canadian musicologist
Bob Fink determined could have been used to play
four notes of a diatonic scale. Researchers esAmate
the utes age to be 67,000 years old, making it the
oldest known musical instrument and the only musical
instrument associated with the Neanderthal culture

Mammoth Ivory Ice-Age Flute [43,400

years ago]

 Second worlds oldest known musical instruments has

been discovered by German archaeologists. The 18.7-
cenAmetre-long ute, which is carved from mammoth
ivory, has three nger holes and would have been
capable of playing relaAvely complex melodies. The
ute was found in 31 pieces in the Geienklsterle
cave in mountains near Ulm in southern Germany.
Carving a ute from solid ivory is much more
demanding than making a ute from bird bones, which
are already hollow. The crooked mammoth tusk had to
be split and the two halves carefully hollowed out,
then bound and glued together along a perfectly
airAght seam.

Elephant Skin Drum [37,000 years ago]

 The earliest known drum was 30,000 years old

when man used animal hide stretched to
create sound. The rst discovered is from an
elephant skin used since it was preserved
from scavenging in AntarcAcas ice age.

Pan pipes [30,000 years ago]

 The pipes are one of the oldest made

instruments daAng back to 30,000 years ago,
these were typically made from bamboo or
giant cane. The pan ute is named for its
associaAon with the rusAc Greek god Pan.
Another term for the pan ute is syrinx,

Bullroarer [17,000 BC]

 The bullroarer or rhombus or turndun is an

ancient ritual musical instrument and means of
communicaAng over extended distances. It dates
back to the Paleolithic period, being found in
Ukraine daAng from 17,000 B.C. The cord is given
a slight iniAal twist, and the roarer is then swung
in a large circle in a horizontal plane. The
aerodynamics of the roarer will keep it spinning
about its axis. In ancient Greece it was a sacred
instrument used in rituals.

Raale [11,000 BC]

 Earliest known raale consisted of a hollow

cane with sand and small stones in it.
Rhythmical shaking of this instrument
produced repeAAve, rather dry Ambre noises.

Slit Drum [7,500 BC]

 The earliest slit drums, daAng back 75 ,00 BC,

were made by cubng, burning or gouging a slit in
the wall of a hollowed-out piece of wood.Made
of tree logs having three slits, cut into the shape
of an H . If, as is usual, the resultant tongues
were dierent lengths or thicknesses, the drum
produced2 dierent pitches. The ends of a slit
drum were closed so that the shell becomes the
resonaAng chamber for the sound vibraAons
created when the tongues are struck, usually
with a mallet.

Xylophone (2000 BC)

 The earliest evidence of a xylophone is from the 2000 BC in

southeast Asia according to the Vienna Symphonic Library,
and there is a model of a similar hanging wood instrument,
dated to ca. 2000 BC in China. The original instrument
consisted of wooden bars seated on a series of hollow
gourds, with the gourds generaAng the resonaAng notes
that are produced on modern instruments by metal tubes.
Tuning the bars was always a dicult procedure. Old
methods consisted of arranging the bars on Aed bundles of
straw, and, as sAll pracAced today, placing the bars
adjacent to each other in a ladder-like layout. Ancient
mallets were made of willow wood with spoon-like bowls
on the beaten ends.