Mammoth Ivory Flute

Reconstruction of a palaeolithic flute, based on a flute from the Aurignacian layers of the Geissenklösterle cave in Southern Germany, commissioned by US author David George Haskell dghaskell.com. This reconstruction was made from mammoth ivory and matches the length of a stave found in the same cave, with finger hole spacing based on those found in paleolithic mammoth ivory and bird wing bone flutes. Three additional fingerholes were placed at the lower part of the instrument, following suggestions made by German flutist Anna. F. Potengowski, who tested the flute and played the tunes for this video. Thanks to both for working together with me on this very interesting project!

[@NeanderthalJoe]

Very beautiful, and it answers my questions of how they were made!

[@ulfr23]

Thanks, Joe!

[@lovepeople777]

just goes to show how advanced cavemen really were

[@ulfr23]

Yr right, but cavemen isn´t the appropriate word - we know from the excavations in the Ach Valley that those people visited the caves only once in 2 ka, probably just for shelter for a few days. Actually they lived in tents or huts as nomads.

[@danielflintknapping]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing this!

[@ulfr23]

Thanks!

[@KIM-zt6px]

It's a great interesting experiment. I enjoyed watching the your video. In Korea.

[@KIM-zt6px]

I'm watching your video. I'm looking forward to seeing you again in Jeongok.

[@ulfr23]

감사합니다 언중!

[@MarcelSchwarzenberger]

Danke, Wulf - schönes Video, toll gemacht. Und ein elegantes Ergebnis!

[@ulfr23]

Danke, Marcel!

[@treelore7266]

The flute is truly a masterpiece but what kind of lamp is that?!

[@ulfr23]

Thanks! It´s a fat lamp made from limestone as they were used back then. The wick is made from tinder fungus mycel. A wonderful lamp was found at the Lascaux cave: www.donsmaps.com/lascauxlamp.html

[@pal3010]

Great work and beautiful sound.. Are the numbers on a dimension mm or inch?

[@ulfr23]

Measures are metric (mm)

[@chucklearnslithics3751]

What is the approximate age of the original auragnation flute from the cave?

[@ulfr23]

Between 42.000 and 43.000 years BP www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18196349 www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248412000425

[@chucklearnslithics3751]

@@ulfr23 incredible. The articles are calling them "the oldest" musical instruments, but looking at them and watching your reconstruction, there's nothing about them that says it's their first time building them. What an amazing find and a wonderful reconstruction experiment. Thank you!

[@ulfr23]

@@chucklearnslithics3751 Thank you! And: Yes, it´s obvious that there must have been predecessors. It is supposed that there are many relics of Aurignacian people still buried in the ground along the river Danube, e.g. in Romania, which have not been excavated by now.

[@oldstoneossilex]

Sympa la flûte mais c'est du bois ?

[@ulfr23]

No, it´s mammoth ivory.

[@oldstoneossilex]

@@ulfr23 cela semble plus tendre que l'os ou le bois de cerf 👍👍 très bien réalisé .

[@ulfr23]

@@oldstoneossilex No, ivory is harder than antler or bone, and in contrary to antler there is no way to make it softer.

[@oldstoneossilex]

@@ulfr23 tu es le seul que j'ai trouvé qui travaille au silex ( comme moi ) Ça fait plaisir je me sens moins seule et moins fou 😉 Merci pour toutes les précisions . Bonne fin de semaine ☺️ Ciao

[@ulfr23]

@@oldstoneossilex Thank you and have a nice weekend, too! Sorry for not speaking French ...

[@Youzack1]

Where’d you get the ivory?

[@ulfr23]

I purchased it in Germany at www.mammut-poa.de/ Bernhard Röck travels to Siberia each year and brings tusks for his workshop.