These ancient flutes may have been used to lure falcons
Perforated bones excavated at an ancient settlement in northern Israel may be the oldest wind instruments found in the region. The small flutes could have been used to make music, call birds or even communicate over short distances, the researchers suggest June 9 in Scientific Reports. The instruments were unearthed from the remains of small stone dwellings at a lakeside site called Eynan-Mallaha, which was home to the last hunter-gatherers in the region until about 12,000 years ago, says Laurent Davin, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. All of the flutes were made from the wing bones of waterfowl that spent winter months at the lake, he notes. Of the seven flutes found, the largest appears to be intact and is about 63 millimeters (2.5 inches) long. Microscopic analyses of the instruments clearly show that the finger holes were carved by humans and were not the results of gnawing by...