<--inner-->

Site Index

History Of Flutes

Here in this article, the history of flutes will be looked into. One of the most primitive musical instruments, the origin of flutes dates back to many thousands of years ago. Read on to gather more info about the rewriting service.

Perhaps, the oldest flute ever discovered may be a fragment of the femur of a juvenile cave bear, having two to four holes dating to about 43,000 years ago. As the history of flutes reveals, it was found at Divje Babe in Slovenia. Another flute dating back to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, Germany in 2008. This flute is a V-shaped mouthpiece with five holes and is made from a vulture wing bone. This discovery is believed to be the oldest confirmed find of any musical instrument in flutes history. Announcing the discovery scientists recommended that it shows the occurrence of a well-rooted musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe.

Going further on the origin of flutes, a three-holed flute made from a mammoth tusk which dated to some 35,000 years ago was discovered in 2004 in the southern German Swabian Alb. Bone flutes made from the bones of wing of red-crowned cranes, with five to eight holes each, were excavated from a tomb in Jiahu in the Central Chinese province of Henan. There were around 9000-year-old. Chinese women were well accomplished flute players in the 12th-century Song Dynasty. These are the oldest musical instrument in the history of flutes.

The earliest transverse flute was found in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in China and dates from 433 BC. Known as Chi flutes, these were made of lacquered bamboo with closed ends, the five stops are at the side of the flute instead of the top. There is a citation in the Bible, about Jubal being the "father of all those who play the ugab and the kinnor". The former Hebrew term is known to refer to some wind instrument or wind instruments in general. As such, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, Jubal is regarded as the inventor of the flute in the flutes history.

Looking into the origin of flutes, some early flutes were commonly made out of tibias or shin bones. There are plenty of incidences of flute as an essential part of Indian culture and mythology. According to many, the origin of the cross flute is said to be in Indian culture and mythology.