A Middle Palaeolithic origin of music? Using cave-bear bone accumulations to assess the Divje Babe I bone 'flute.'

A Middle Palaeolithic origin of music? Using cave-bear bone accumulations to assess the Divje Babe I bone 'flute.' The discovery of a perforated cave-bear femur femur(fē`mər): see leg. from the Neanderthallevels at Divje Babe has been interpreted as the oldest musicalinstrument in Europe. Here we present the current discussion on the'flute' and its implications for other similar bone finds fromearly prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to ,No Stradivarius ever attracted such a large audience as the recentdiscovery of the Divje Babe I perforated cave-bear femur, described bythe finders as possibly the oldest musical instrument found in Europe(Turk et al. 1995; 1996; 1997; Lau et al. 1996). The use of the objectas a flute by Neanderthals has quickly become a fact in media coverage(Wilford 1996; Garrigues 1997; Hawkes 1997; Anon. 1997; Wong 1997). Thepiece has been reported as potential evidence for early music by somescholars (Bednarik 1996; Jelinek 1997). Reconstructions have beenproposed suggesting that the bear bone is a segment of a flute about 37cm long and capable of playing the entire seven-note scale on whichWestern music is based (Fink 1997).An extensive monograph (224 pages, 110 figures with line drawings andcolour photos) on the site and the object has been recently published inSlovene and English (Turk 1997). This book includes several chapters onthe stratigraphy stratigraphy,branch of geology specifically concerned with the arrangement of layered rocks (see stratification). Stratigraphy is based on the law of superposition, which states that in a normal sequence of rock layers the youngest is on top and the oldest on the , dating and archaeological context of the object, thefaunal assemblage and the taphonomy ta��phon��o��my?n.1. The study of the conditions and processes by which organisms become fossilized.2. The conditions and processes of fossilization. , a detailed description andinterpretation of the bone flute with colour micrographs, results fromreplicative manufacturing, playing experiments, and comparative datafrom Upper Palaeolithic and younger flutes and pipes.In spite of this extensive documentation there seems to be no fullagreement among archaeologists (Wong 1997) about the nature andsignificance of this object. If this piece were to be accepted as theoldest musical instrument, manufactured and used by Neanderthals, thiswould have important implications for our understanding of the evolutionof the human brain.The publication of this piece takes place in the context of ongoingdebates about the cognitive abilities of the Neanderthals and theexplanatory value of the evolution versus revolution models for theorigin of symbolic behaviours (d'Errico & Villa 1997). In thelast few years, and in spite of robust opposition by the partisans of asymbolic explosion coinciding with the Middle to Upper Palaeolithictransition (Chase & Dibble 1987; 1992; Davidson & Noble 1989;White 1992; Stringer & Gamble 1993; Mellars 1989; 1996; Byers 1994),the proponents of a gradual acquisition of modern cognitive abilities(Marshack 1976; 1988; 1991; 1995; Simek 1992; Hayden 1993; Bednarik1992; 1994; 1996; Bahn 1996) have succeeded in presenting viablechallenges to the revolution model, still the dominant paradigm. Theseauthors have generally based their argument on such evidence ascollections of fossils and crystals, putatively perforated and engravedobjects of stone and bone, use of ochre, and bone fragments interpretedas musical instruments.Numerous perforated animal phalanges, often interpreted as whistles,have been reported from Middle Palaeolithic sites (e.g. La Quina, Combe combeNounsame as coomb Grenal, Bocksteinschmiede, Prolom II; Martin 1907-1910; Wetzel &Bosinski 1969; Stepanchuk 1993). Chase (1990), however, has convincinglyshown, using actualistic data, that these perforations should beinterpreted as carnivore carnivore(kär`nəvôr'), term commonly applied to any animal whose diet consists wholly or largely of animal matter. In animal systematics it refers to members of the mammalian order Carnivora (see Chordata). punctures, a hypothesis previously put forwardby Martin (1907-10) for the majority of perforated phalanges at LaQuina. According to Martin, at least one reindeer phalanx phalanx,ancient Greek formation of infantry. The soldiers were arrayed in rows (8 or 16), with arms at the ready, making a solid block that could sweep bristling through the more dispersed ranks of the enemy. , presentingtwo symmetrical perforations on the posterior and anterior faces, washuman-made. Recent examination of this object by Taborin (1990) hasshown that the edges of the perforations are sharp and angular, as incarnivore punctures, and carry no traces of human manufacture.A long-bone shaft with a single perforation per��fo��ra��tionn.1. The act of perforating or the state of being perforated.2. An abnormal opening in a hollow organ or viscus, as one made by rupture or injury.PerforationA hole. , found in the MiddlePalaeolithic levels of Haua Fteah, Libya, was published as a brokenwhistle by McBurney (1969). One of the shaft's broken edges isconcave ConcaveProperty that a curve is below a straight line connecting two end points. If the curve falls above the straight line, it is called convex. and has been interpreted as the remnant of a second hole,aligned with the first. The hole on this object is interpreted as acarnivore puncture by Davidson (1991) who points out the absence ofstone-tool marks and the morphology of the hole walls, which exhibitdepressed margins, a common feature of carnivore punctures.A mammoth long-bone fragment from Schulen, Belgium, found inassociation with a Mousterian industry and an Upper Pleistocene coldfauna, and showing a set of deep sub-parallel grooves, was interpretedby Huyge (1990) as a scraped idiophone Not to be confused with Ideophone, sound symbolism in language.An idiophone is any musical instrument which creates sound primarily by way of the instrument vibrating itself, without the use of strings or membranes. , i.e. a musical instrument with acorrugated surface that is scraped rhythmically by a non-sonorous objectto produce sounds. In contrast with this interpretation, d'Errico(1991) suggested that the morphology of the grooves documented by Huyge,and the rounded polished appearance of the bone surface, increasingtoward the end of the fragment, were compatible with an interpretationof these features as the result of a severe carnivore gnawing associatedwith salivary sal��i��var��yadj.1. Of, relating to, or producing saliva.2. Of or relating to a salivary gland.salivarypertaining to the saliva. rounding of break edges.Is the Divje Babe perforated femur the first unambigous proof of amusical tradition among Neanderthals ? Does current knowledge on thedistinction between man-made and animal traces suggest alternativeinterpretations of this object, a possibility already mentioned by thediscoverers (Turk et al. 1995; 1996; Turk 1997: 175)?The site and the objectDivje Babe I is a cave in western Slovenia, near the village of Reka,containing a 12-m thick Upper Pleistocene sequence under excavationsince 1980. An Aurignacian bone industry was found in layers 2-3; layers4-8 and older contain rare Mousterian artefacts. Traces of fireplaceswere found in layers 5, 6 and 8. Cave-bear remains dominate the faunalassemblage of all layers with more than the 99% of all finds (Turk etal. 1997). The remaining 1% is represented by more than 50 species,mostly consisting of carnivores (mainly wolf) and small mammals. Layer 2has been dated by AMS AMS - Andrew Message System at 35.3+ or -0.7 ka (RIDDL 734), layer 6 at43.4-1.4+1.2 (RIDDL 735). Layer 8 has provided four AMS dates rangingfrom 49.2-3.2+2.3 (RIDDL 750) to 40.3+ or -1.0 (RIDDL 745) (Turk 1997:table 4.2). More recently ESR ESR - Eric S. Raymond dating of layer 8 based on bear teeth hasindicated an age between 67 + or - 10 and 82 + or - 11 ka (Lau et al.1996).According to Turk et al. (1995; 1996) the Divje Babe I putative fluteis the left femur of a young 2-year-old cave bear with two artificialholes on the posterior face and remnants of two more [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 1 OMITTED]). In the 1997 monograph, the description has beenslightly modified in that the distal incomplete hole is now interpretedas a possible opening for the mouth-piece modified by carnivore gnawing.The object was found in layer 8, not far from a fireplace. The polishingand rounding affecting the fracture edges is described as being a commonfeature of bone fragments in layer 8 as well as in the other layers ofthe cave.According to the excavators (Turk 1997: 160), traces of working witha stone tool are not present on the edges of the complete holes nor onthe edges of the suspected broken holes at the distal and proximal end.This is clearly documented by several macrophotos published in themonograph [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]).By comparison with musical instruments found in Upper Palaeolithicsites, Turk et al. (1995) suggest that this object may be the oldestknown musical instrument. At various points in the monograph (1997) theycaution that the interpretation of these features as carnivore puncturescannot be definitely dismissed. They point out, however, that thepierced femur is the only example amongst 600 femurs of juvenile cavebear found at the site to present these particular features and that itcould have been used as a flute by Neanderthals.The reasons that would suggest an anthropic origin for theperforations and the use of the object as a musical instrument can besummarised as follows:1 the unusual number of holes, two clearly visible, four according tothe first reconstructions (Turk et al. 1995) and three in the newestpublication (Turk 1997);2 their unusual position, at the centre of a long-bone shaft;3 their regular round shape, interpreted as an index of humanmanufacture;4 the dimensions of the two complete holes (their minimum diameter is8.1 and 8.7 mm), compatible with their use as fiute's finger holes;5 the supposed similarity of this object with Upper Palaeolithicmusical instruments made on long-bone shafts with holes aligned on themajor axis of the diaphysis;6 the absence of spongy bone spongy bonen.1. Bone in which the spicules form a latticework, with interstices filled with embryonic connective tissue or bone marrow. Also called cancellous bone, spongy substance, trabecular bone.2. inside the marrow cavity allowing theuse of the shaft as a wind instrument;7 the apparent absence of gnawing marks;8 the fact that they were able to replicate the 'flute'holes by piercing a bear bone using a stone tool and a wood hammer;9 the presence of stone borers and other piercing implements in thestone tool assemblage;10 the possible association of the object with a fireplace foundnearby.Our purpose here is to evaluate the relevance of these differentreasons by comparing features observed on the Divje Babe object withdata provided by taphonomic studies of cave-bear bone accumulations inSpanish and Italian caves. While Divje Babe I appears to represent arecord of alternating occupations by hominids and cave bears, two of thesites considered here are clearly natural accumulations providing noevidence of human occupation nor clues indicating that humans had apossible influence in the bone accumulation process. Morphological andmetrical met��ri��cal?adj.1. Of, relating to, or composed in poetic meter: metrical verse; five metrical units in a line.2. Of or relating to measurement. analyses of bone modifications from these sites show strongsimilarity to those described at Divje Babe.As a result of these comparisons, we argue that when tested againstdata from bear bone accumulations, none of the reasons listed aboveprovide material support for an interpretation of the Divje Babe objectas a human artefact See artifact. and a musical instrument.MethodologyOur comparative sample consists of materials from the caves ofArrikrutz and Troskaeta, in the Basque region of Spain. Excavations atArrikrutz were carried out in 1966 by Altuna (1972) and in 1975, 1986and 1994 by Torres (Altuna et al. 1982). Faunal remains from this site,attributed to the Upper Pleistocene, are dominated by Ursus spelaeus(Torres 1988; Perez et al. 1986) but also include Coelodontaantiquitatis, Canis lupus, Capra pyrenaica, Crocuta crocuta Crocuta crocutasee hyena. spelaea,Panthera spelaea and Marmota marmota.Excavations by Llopis Llado & Elosegui (1954) at Troskaeta haveyielded an important cavebear collection (Kurten 1955). A new systematicexcavation was carried out in 1987-88 by Torres (Torres et al. 1991) inthe chamber called 'Sima de los Osos'. This has provided anassemblage of 3987 bones of which only 4 specimens (three bat bones andone attributed to Capra sp.) do not belong to Ursus spelaeusparvilatipedis n.ssp.None of the bones from Arrikrutz and Troskaeta are burned, haveunambigous cutmarks or other possible traces of human intervention.Excavations of the two sites have never revealed artefacts or othertraces of hominid hominidAny member of the zoological family Hominidae (order Primates), which consists of the great apes (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos) as well as human beings. activities. Examinations by one of us (ACPL ACPL Allen County Public Library (Ft Wayne, Indiana, USA)ACPL Autonomic Computing Policy LanguageACPL Aircraft Certification Policy Letter (Canada)ACPL Asynchronous Concurrent Programming Language ) of allthe cave-bear bones from Arrikrutz and of one-third of those found byTorres at Troskaeta has allowed the identification of a variety ofsurface modifications suggestive of suggestive ofDecision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. carnivore actions, in particular 99fragments showing holes corresponding to large punctures produced bycarnivores, as described in the literature (Binford 1981; Haynes 1983;Lyman 1994; Fisher 1995). It is well-known that when most species ofcarnivores bite down hard on bone, the teeth leave impressions as pitsor holes on the bone surface.The following variables were recorded for each site: skeletalelement, type of carnivore damage (gnawing, scoring, tooth notches,spiral breaks, punctures), and their anatomical position anatomical positionn.The erect position of the body with the face directed forward, the arms at the side, and the palms of the hands facing forward, used as a reference in describing the relation of body parts to one another. . The number ofpunctures present on each bone, their minimum diameter and whether theyoccurred in opposition on both sides of the bone was also recorded.Punctures were examined under a reflected light microscope; a selectedsample was replicated with Provil L elastomer elastomer(ĭlăs`təmər), substance having to some extent the elastic properties of natural rubber. The term is sometimes used technically to distinguish synthetic rubbers and rubberlike plastics from natural rubber. (Bayer, Leverkusen,Germany). Positive casts, made in RBS RBS Royal Bank of ScotlandRBS Role Based SecurityRBS Rollback SegmentRBS Rare Book School (University of Virginia)RBS Rural Business Cooperative ServiceRBS Ribosome Binding Site (genetics)resin (T2L Chimie, Chalabre,France), were mounted on metal supports, coated with gold-palladium andobserved with a SEM 840A Jeol.We have also included in our analysis a bear skull fragment[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]) from the cave of Lezetxiki (Basqueregion), a site presenting a 10-m thick Middle-Upper Pleistocenesequence with a record of alternating occupations by [TABULAR DATA FORTABLE 1 OMITTED] hominids and cave bears. This fragment comes from alevel (VI) which has yielded a Typical Mousterian assemblage and iscurrently attributed to the Last Interglacial in��ter��gla��cial?adj.Occurring between glacial epochs.n.A comparatively short period of warmth during an overall period of glaciation. or to one warm phase ofthe Middle Pleistocene (Sanchez Goni 1993). Bear bones from this levelare attributed to Ursus deningeri by Altuna (1972). The skull fragmentpresents a round perforation described as humanly drilled by Baldeon(1993), a diagnosis accepted by Bednarik (1997), and very similar insize and shape to those on the Divje Babe femur [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE2 OMITTED]). The perforation was studied with optical and scanningelectron microscope scan��ning electron microscopen. Abbr. SEMAn electron microscope that forms a three-dimensional image on a cathode-ray tube by moving a beam of focused electrons across an object and reading both the electrons scattered by the object and following the same procedures described above forthe bones with punctures from Arrikrutz and Troskaeta.ResultsArguments put forward to suggest an anthropic origin of the DivjeBabe holes, and their possible use to produce harmonic sounds, lose alarge part of their convincing power when seen in the light oftaphonomic analyses of natural cavebear accumulations. Deep puncturesoccur on the 4.2 and 4-8% of the examined remains from Arrikrutz andTroskaeta (TABLE 1). They are present on many types of bone and arenoticeably abundant on long bones. Most of the punctures showdistinctive features [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 4-5 OMITTED]) consistingof irregular edges, depressed margins and flaking of the outer wall ofthe bone pushed into the depression (Lyman 1994). In a few cases,however, when the cortical bone overlying overlyingsuffocation of piglets by the sow. The piglets may be weak from illness or malnutrition, the sow may be clumsy or ill, the pen may be inadequate in size or poorly designed so that piglets cannot escape. spongy bone is thin, the teethpenetrate the bone leaving circular or slightly elliptical el��lip��tic? or el��lip��ti��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or having the shape of an ellipse.2. Containing or characterized by ellipsis.3. a. holes, withregular edges (compare FIGURES 6 and 5 with FIGURE 2). At microscopicscale, the edges of these regular holes often present micro-indentationswith occasional microscars corresponding to the local detachment of thefirst bone lamellae lamellae(lmel´ē),n the nearly parallel layers of bone tissue found in compact bone. .The number of holes present on the Divje Babe femur, their anatomicalposition and their large size cannot be considered as elementssuggesting the anthropic origin of the perforations. In our comparativecollection, the sum of the bones with two or more punctures exceeds, inboth samples, those with a single puncture [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 7OMITTED]) and, among the former, those with two punctures are, as atDivje Babe, the most common. Puncture diameters vary between I and 12 mmat Arrikrutz, and between 3 and 11 mm at Troskaeta, where smallpunctures are less common. In both samples, however, the large majorityof the values range between 4 and 10 mm, a range which includes thediameter of the two holes on the Divje Babe femur (8.1 and 8.7 mm).Similarly, the apparent absence of carnivore traces does notnecessarily support the hypothesis of an anthropic origin of theperforations. Large isolated or multiple punctures occur at Troskaetaand Arrikrutz on bones which do not show matching tooth marks on theother side of the specimens or other clear traces of carnivore damage(TABLE 2).The hole on the Lezetxiki bear skull, which is very similar to thoseon the Divje Babe 'flute', is attributed by Baldeon andBednarik to human drilling. First-hand examination of the Lezetxikiperforated object reveals traces of extensive carnivore gnawing in theform of pitting and scoring affecting the exocranial surface, andchipped-back edges (Binford 1981). Grooves produced by scoring meet thefracture edges indicating that gnawing occurred on the broken fragment.Scoring [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 8 OMITTED]) can be distinguished fromthe many impressions of vascular grooves crossing the exocranial surfacesince the former presents frayed edges, an irregular internal morphologyand compact zones crossed by parallel striations while the latter haveregular U-shaped sections, clean edges and often show branching patterns(d'Errico & Villa 1997). withnumber of with gnawingpunctures opposing with with on articularon single number of tooth tooth gnawing or brokenspecimens specimens marks notches on shaft shaft end1 25 8 3 1 32 19 12 1 - 23 3 2 - - -4 3 3 1 1 -5 1 1 - - -6 1 1 - 2 -7 2 2 2 - -total 54 29 7 4 5TABLE 2. Association of puncture marks with other types of carnivoredamage on cave-bear bones from Arrikrutz cave.The exocranial aspect of the hole [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 9OMITTED]) shows the same features observed at Arrikrutz and Troskaeta(subcircular shape, slight indentations, local removal of the firstlamella lamella/la��mel��la/ (lah-mel��ah) pl. lamel��lae ? [L.]1. a thin leaf or plate, as of bone.2. a medicated disk or wafer to be inserted under the eyelid. ). The endocranial aspect presents continous flaking, giving thehole walls a funnel-like shape. This suggests that the hole was producedby a canine attacking the exocranial surface of the skull and thusproducing the extensive breakage visible on the endocranial side.Microscopic analysis [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 9 OMITTED]) reveals aslight smoothing of the edge but no striations or scraping marksassociated with the use of stone tools, as documented experimentally(d'Errico 1993) and by Upper Palaeolithic perforated objects(Stordeur 1979).Final remarksA number of natural agents may produce holes on bones. Mushroom andbacteria produce perforations too small (1-10 mm) to be relevant here(Baud 1986). Beetles in their larval larval1. pertaining to larvae.2. larvate.larval migranssee cutaneous and visceral larva migrans. state bore large holes in longbones to use the inner cavity as a pupation pu��pate?intr.v. pu��pat��ed, pu��pat��ing, pu��pates1. To become a pupa.2. To go through a pupal stage.pu��pa chamber. The genus Dermestesproduce holes up to 6 mm in diameter (Jodry & Stanford 1992);according to Kitching (1980), carrion beetles can bore even largerholes, up to 8-10 mm (d'Errico & Villa 1997). Unfortunatelydetailed descriptions or visual documentation of reference material islacking. We cannot test this hypothesis but, as we suggest below,several reasons incite To arouse; urge; provoke; encourage; spur on; goad; stir up; instigate; set in motion; as in to incite a riot. Also, generally, in Criminal Law to instigate, persuade, or move another to commit a crime; in this sense nearly synonymous with abet. us to develop the carnivore hypothesis.Sutcliffe (1970) has shown that circular holes are a common featureof bone fragments regurgitated by modern spotted hyenas. These bonesshow surface modifications (scalloped surfaces, micropits, knife-sharpedges) which make the agent of the modification rather easy to identify.Morphometric and microscopic analysis of a large sample of regurgitatedbones from modern and Pleistocene hyena dens (d'Errico & Villa1997) shows that the length of these fragments is generally smaller than6 cm and, with only one exception, it never exceeds 9 cm. About 90% ofthe hole diameters range between 0.5 and 4 mm; holes up to 9.5 mm werefound only exceptionally.The Divje Babe I perforated bear femur cannot be interpreted as ahyena-regurgitated bone due to its large size (113 mm), the absence ofdiagnostic features of bones swallowed by hyenas and the large holediameters. Instead, many converging reasons suggest that the holes wereproduced by the the teeth of a large-sized carnivore. The dimensions,the morphology, and the number of Divje Babe holes are compatible withthose observed in cave-bear bone accumulations with no humanintervention [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 6 OMITTED]).To firmly identify the species responsible for the holes, however, isnot an easy task. Although carnivore punctures are a well-known andwidely described type of carnivore damage (cf. Binford 1981; Haynes1983; Morlan 1983; Fisher 1995), we still have limited information onthe size range of punctures produced by different carnivore species.According to experimental and field observations by Haynes (1983),modern hyenas and wolves produce punctures around 3-5 mm wide. Bears tooleave 'tooth cusp impressions... consisting of single, nearly fiatbottomed holes entering the cancellous cancellous/can��cel��lous/ (kan-sel��us) of a reticular, spongy, or lattice-like structure. can��cel��lousadj.Cancellated. tissue'. Measurements oftooth marks taken by Selvaggio (1994) show that lions and spotted hyenasteeth can leave punctures as wide as 5 and 6 mm respectively. Howevermodern samples may not be appropriate for assessing the range ofpuncture diameters left by Pleistocene carnivores which may be largerthan the correlative Having a reciprocal relationship in that the existence of one relationship normally implies the existence of the other.Mother and child, and duty and claim, are correlative terms. modern species. Stiner (1995) provides the rangeand the mean values of puncture diameters found in trabecular bone trabecular bonen.See spongy bone. fromfive Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Italian sites [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 10 OMITTED]). As several different carnivores, including leopard,brown bear, hyena and wolf are present among the faunal remains of thesesites, the punctures found on the bones are likely a mixture of damagesproduced by different species and cannot be used as a criterion toidentify a particular taxon taxon(pl. taxa), in biology, a term used to denote any group or rank in the classification of organisms, e.g., class, order, family. .Large punctures on bear-cub bones, around 7-8 mm in diameter,interpreted as suggesting cannibalism cannibalism(kăn`ĭbəlĭzəm)[Span. caníbal, referring to the Carib], eating of human flesh by other humans. by adult bears, were recentlydescribed at Yarimburgaz Cave (Stiner et al. 1996). However, as with theItalian samples, damage produced by other carnivores, primarily canidsand other larger carnivores such as Panthera, and perhaps hyena, arepresent at the site. Data from Troskaeta, a site where only bears werepresent, strongly suggest, in contrast with Gargett's opinion(1996: 42,140), that cave bears often inflicted heavy damage to bonesand that cave-bear puncture diameters are among the largest produced bycarnivores.This hypothesis is supported by evidence from another site, theGrotta d'Ernesto, a small cave site in the Italian Alps, dated tothe Mesolithic. This site contains only sporadic traces of humanpresence and a faunal assemblage dominated by brown bear, virtually theonly carnivore (Cavallo et al. 1991). Large punctures, up to 10 mm wide,were observed on red-deer and brown-bear bones from this site. Thedistance between two large punctures on a reddeer skull from this siteis identical to that measured between the tips of canines on abrown-bear mandible mandible/man��di��ble/ (man��di-b'l) the horseshoe-shaped bone forming the lower jaw, articulating with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.mandib��ular man��di��blen. from the same site, suggesting that this species wasresponsible for much of the gnawing (Cavallo et al. 1991: [ILLUSTRATIONFOR FIGURE 6 OMITTED]).Although the hypothesis that the 'flute' perforations weremade by carnivores is considered by the excavators (Turk 1997), they donot consider cave bear as the possible perpetrators concentratinginstead on dismissing the role of wolves and hyenas (1997: 173-4).The alignment and identical shape and size of the two Divje Babeholes might suggest that they were produced simultaneously by carnivoreteeth biting the bone surface perpendicularly. This could have been doneby canines or by carnassials.In the first case, however, the punctures could not have been done injust one bite by an adult cave bear. The distance between the centres ofthe two perforations (35.4 mm) is less than half the distance betweenthe canine tips of this species and smaller than that of mostlarge-sized carnivores, including adult hyenas, lions and wolves. Theymight have been produced simultaneously by the canines of a juvenilecarnivore or they might be the product of repeated bites.In the second case, the holes could have been made by the paracone ofthe upper carnassials or by the protoconid of the lower carnassials of alarge carnivore with strong jaws and very pointed carnassials. Thissecond mechanism seems more probable if the holes were produced bycarnivores other than cave bears since the morphology of cave-bearcarnassials cannot produce such round, large holes. An action bycave-bear canines, however, cannot be excluded since, as seen above,large punctures are found in sites where only bears are present.Whatever the gnawing mechanism responsible for creating the twoholes, why was no other carnivore damage recorded on the femur? We havealready shown (TABLE 2) that in cavebear-dominated bone assemblages,large isolated or multiple punctures can occur on bones lacking anyother traces of carnivore gnawing. Moreover, the absence of gnaw-markson the Divje Babe femur is an assertion that needs verification.In fact, the femur carries on its anterior face a semi-circular notchassociated to a diverging fracture [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1.1OMITTED]). which could be interpreted as a bite-mark opposite to thedistal hole. The origin of this feature is not explained by theexcavators, who state that no traces of counter-bites are present on thebone (1997: 175).The proximal and distal notches that Turk (1997: 160) describesrespectively as a broken hole and a possible man-made mouthpiece openingof the presumed flute could also be interpreted as the effect of acarnivore gnawing the two shaft ends. These notches show the samecrenulated morphology of bones with thin cortical walls such as palatesand mandibles gnawed by carnivores (Binford 1981: figures 3.25 and3.27). Their interpretation as gnawmarks is compatible with the roundingof the broken bone edges. It is known that when carnivore gnaw long-boneshafts their rough tongues are capable of rounding bone surfaces.The lack of spongy bone inside the shaft is not proof of deliberatecleaning-out since no traces of this action are visible on the boneinternal surface. Many shafts from the site, carrying no holes, appearcompletely or partially without spongy bone. Yet no traces of workingare visible on them (1997: 174).Before attributing the presence of perforations on the juvenilecave-bear femur to the deliberate intention of choosing a bone suitableto make a musical instrument one should consider the frequency ofjuvenile bones in cave bear assemblages. It is known that newborn andjuvenile individuals can represent a large portion of faunal remainsfound in cave-bear accumulations (Kurten 1955; 1976; Andrews &Turner 1992; Torres et al. 1991). This appears to be the consequence ofhigh mortality of young cave bears during the hibernation period. Thusthe presence of large punctures on the long bone of a juvenile cave bearneed not be interpreted as the deliberate choice of a Neanderthalcraftsman, and should more likely be attributed to the large number ofjuvenile bones in this type of site. At Divje Babe (1997: 102-10), alllayers show a high percentage of juvenile bones, and of juvenile anddeciduous deciduous/de��cid��u��ous/ (de-sid��u-us) falling off or shed at maturity, as the teeth of the first dentition. de��cid��u��ousadj.1. teeth. The interpretation of the holes and the semi-circularnotches on the 'flute' as damage produced by carnivores isconsistent with the high percentage of gnawed bones found at the site.Gnawed bones figured in the monograph (1997: 117, figure 9.2 and173:11.19) present, among other typical traces, large multiple puncturesand notches very similar to those on the 'flute'. Thepercentage of gnawed limb bones is considerably greater among juvenilesthan among adults. Among the former, the bone with the highestpercentage of punctured holes is the femur, i.e. the bone on which thepresumed flute was made.That carnivores had a dominant role in creating and modifying theDivje Babe bone assemblage is also confirmed by the fact that spiralfractures associated with percussion notches are, by theexcavators' own admission, very rare, and only 8 possible cut-markswere found on the 200,000 bone fragments recovered from the cave. Thisresult is compatible with the relatively low number of stone artefactsfound at the site, and in the lower Mousterian layers, where the flutewas discovered. Layers 7-8 combined have yielded only 127 stoneartefacts.In sum, the extremely high frequency extremely high frequencyn. Abbr. EHFA radio-frequency band with a range of 30,000 to 300,000 megahertz.Noun 1. of cavebear bones in the DivjeBabe assemblage (99% of the total number of bones) clearly shows thathumans had only a negligible role in the accumulations of these bones,that hibernating bears were an important factor contributing to theaccumulation of the faunal assemblage and that the Divje Babe caveassemblages represent 'palimpsests' (Bordes et al. 1972; Villa1982) of alternate occupations by carnivores and humans.The proximity of the 'flute' to a fireplace cannot beconsidered, by itself, proof that they are contemporaneous. Recurrenthuman and carnivore occupation of the same site and accumulations oftemporally separated materials on the same surface are a common featureof the archaeological record in sites with low sedimentation rates, suchas caves. Estimates of sedimentation rates in Stone Age caves of_ tenindicate low values. One cm of deposit may represent 5-167 years with anaverage of 14 years (Speth & Johnson 1976). Thus materials nowaggregated in a single layer may have been discarded during separatephases of occupation and possibly different modes of site use (Villa& Courtin 1983: 270). Refitting links between lithics or bonefragments might suggest the contemporaneous use of the same excavatedsurface but this kind of analysis remains to be performed at Divje Babe.Even so, refitting would only suggest, but could not provide absoluteproof of contemporaneity. The problem is even more cogent in a site likeDivje Babe since we know that cave bears (Kurten 1976), like modernblack bears (Rogers 1981), displaced consistent amounts of sediment inorder to prepare comfortable beds for hibernation.The available data from Divje Babe shows that no living floors havebeen identified at the site (Turk 1997: 119-21). No pattern is observedin the spatial and stratigraphic distribution of finds suggesting acontemporaneity of objets. Bones and stone artefacts are scatteredthroughout all layers with no evidence of concentration. An increase inthe density of stone artefacts and bone remains near the fireplacesmight indicate that objects nearest to them were deposited at the sametime, but no such increase are observed in the stratigraphy.The occurrence of borers among the stone tools found at the siteproves opportunity, but not the origin of the holes, since no diagnostictraces of stone-tool use on the hole walls and edges were found. Theexcavators suggest that constant use or natural abrasion mightobliterate such traces. This, however, cannot be considered in any wayas supporting the hypothesis of human manufacture.We must conclude that by far the most likely explanation for themodifications observed on the Divje Babe femur is that of damageproduced by carnivore teeth and that, as a consequence, the most ancientmusical instruments known to date are still the Aurignacian flutesdiscovered in the French cave of Isturitz (Buisson 1991) and thoserecently discovered by Jochim Hahn (1996) at Geissenklosterle inGermany.Acknowledgements. This research was made possible by a grant from theFonds Communs Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarre to Francesca d'Errico andRosa Ruiz Idarraga, and by a grant from the Fundaci6n InvestigacionCiencia y Tecnologfa to Ana Pinto. Our thank also go to Jesus Altuna andFrancisco Etxeberria, for allowing the study of the Arrikrutz, Troskaetaand Lezetxiki material. 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