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Nature 460, 695-696 (6 August 2009) | doi:10.1038/460695a; Published online 5 August 2009

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Archaeology: The earliest musical tradition

Daniel S. Adler1

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Music is a ubiquitous element in our daily lives, and was probably just as important to our early ancestors. Fragments of ancient flutes reveal that music was well established in Europe by about 40,000 years ago.

The Palaeolithic caves of the Swabian Jura in southwestern Germany have been a source of valuable and often provocative archaeological discoveries for many decades. In particular, finds of figurative art from the early Aurignacian — the earliest Upper Palaeolithic archaeological culture associated with modern humans in Europe — suggest that these hunter–gatherers had the knowledge, expertise, incentive and time to craft sophisticated objects for use in ritual activities.

  1. Daniel S. Adler is in the Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
    Email: daniel.adler@uconn.edu

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