The oldest instrument: Unearthed from the Hohle Fels Cave in Germany, the above flute (made from animals; bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes have been found) now stands as the oldest known human instrument. Upon initial testing, researchers believed bones found with the flute to be roughly 35,000 years old, but improved radiocarbon dating has revealed that they’re actually between 42,000 and 43,000 years old. The implications of this on our knowledge of humanity’s history are considerable — past dating suggested humans waited on warmer weather before heading into Central Europe, near the Danube River, but now it appears that humans moved up the Danube well prior to an especially cold period of the Ice Age. source
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