What Does the World's Oldest Instrument Sound Like? This Musician Decided to Find Out

Finding the world's oldest instrument wasn't easy, but discovering how to play it was just as challenging. Curious about what a Neanderthal flute sounded like?

Which instrument came first? Unfortunately, contrary to what rock fans believe, it wasn't... the guitar . I'm kidding, of course. But the discovery of the first man-made instrument didn't come until the late 1990s.

It was then that a team of researchers led by archaeologist Ivan Turk, while searching the Neanderthal camp of Divje Babe in Slovenia , managed to come across a unique find.

Thilo Parg, Excavations at Divje Babe / photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Made from the thighbone of a young cave bear, it resembled… a well-known flute. Scientists have determined that it was created at least 43,000 years ago and consider it the oldest instrument in the world.

Sounds lofty? Sure. But not everyone shared this enthusiasm.

The community was skeptical of the find, primarily because no other examples of musical instruments used by Neanderthals were known . Experts argued that the holes in the flute were likely accidentally carved out by scavenging animals .

However, in 1997, musicologist Bob Fink acknowledged that the find was crucial to understanding the evolution of music and musical scales . It also turned out that the holes corresponded to the four notes of the diatonic scale: do , re , mi , fa , and the distances between them corresponded to whole tones and half-tones within the scale.

Petar Milošević, Flute from Divje Babe / Wikimedia Commons, CC 4.0 BY-SA

The instrument eventually became one of the most important exhibits at the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana . Okay, but how does one play this wonder and, above all, what does it sound like?

The trumpeter from the Ljuben Dimkaroski Opera Orchestra decided to check it out.

The musician obtained a clay replica of the flute and spent some time understanding the operation of the instrument, which bears absolutely no resemblance to modern brass instruments . After much trial and error, he succeeded.

The instrument's capabilities were showcased in a short film in which Dimkaroski imitates animal sounds , performs traditional Slavic songs, and classics such as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and Maurice Ravel's "Bolero."

I have a feeling this instrument would be perfect for performing Rammstein's "Engel." All in the name of science, of course!