The First Musical Creations

Most people either know about or have heard of prehistoric art: cave paintings, sculptures, and much more. However, music has also existed for nearly as long as humanity itself. Flutes made of bone and ivory created up to tens of thousands of years ago have been discovered—not to mention vocal music traditions—and a Sumerian clay tablet with instructions and tunings for a hymn from 4,000 years ago is the earliest recorded musical notation.

Out of what has been found to this day, the world’s oldest musical instrument is a Neanderthal flute discovered in Divje babe cave near Cerkno, made by Neanderthals 60,000 years ago. The flute was crafted by hollowing a cave bear’s left thigh bone with a bone punch, followed by piercing four holes into it using a sharp stone tool. Researchers state that this process was too deliberate not to be an attempt at creating a musical instrument.

(image: the Neanderthal flute)

The world’s oldest musical composition is titled “Hurrian Hymn No. 6”, a piece written in cuneiform (one of the earliest forms of writing). It was composed approximately in the 14th century B.C. by the ancient Hurrians as an ode to the goddess Nikkal. However, there is no definitive recreation of the melody due to difficulties in translating the tablets. On the other hand, the oldest composition that was able to be recreated is “Seikilos Epitaph”, a Greek melody from the first century A.D. engraved on a marble column, with musical notation and a few lyrics.

(images: “Hurrian Hymn No. 6”, the oldest surviving musical composition)

(images: “Seikilos Epitaph”, the oldest fully surviving musical composition)

Music dates back almost as far as humans do, and it is an amazing, ever-evolving phenomenon.

Sources

• https://www.nms.si/en/collections/highlights/343-Neanderthal-flute

• https://www.history.com/news/what-is-the-oldest-known-piece-of-music