Just ran across this article & I have some comments on it.

1) I agree w/ Nick & Jumblepudding’s idea of making music from this but think it should be done from a casting of the original. That’s so that, hopefully, there will be DNA testing on the original. Jumblepudding’s suggesion of Ian Anderson is great!

2) I, of course, haven’t seen the original, but, speaking now as a senior-level archaeologist, in looking at the pic, & contrary to what the article says, I think the flute is *not* intact. The article says it’s a 5-holed flute, but clearly, there are only 4 holes showing. There is evidence, at either end, of breakage; the broken ends might have been where other holes were. Looking at these areas under a microscope (microwear analysis) could easily verify that. So, if not intact, the actual no. of holes in the instrument is unknown & further speculation such as “might be capable of expressing greater harmonic variety than the modern-day flute” (from the related article at http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jan-feb/051) is just that– speculation.

3) Relating to Stephen’s comment which referenced an earlier Discover article, I am very disturbed that Discover would publish a ‘joke’ article, which, unless you noticed the date– April 1st– appears otherwise to be scholarly & serious. I would like to think that I have a good sense of humor & can appreciate that Discover may want to make science
‘entertaining’ for the masses, but I, for one, think that science is fascinating enough without having to resort to such tactics! I hope Discover has discontinued such ‘jokes’. (Perhaps these ‘April 1st’ articles could be more obviously labelled as joke articles.)

I know it’s a little weird to see these articles in our archives, out of context, but there were some clues tucked into the article — like the researcher’s place of employment, Hindenburg University.

I’d like to challenge this statement. There is an much earlier Discover article that indicates even the Neanderthals used musical instruments, including a mammoth tusk “tuba” and nose “bagpipe”. According to the article, these instruments are ~50,000 years old and predate modern humans in Europe.

http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/andaoneandauhuh1108

Has this discovery been refuted or overturned? Did modern humans learn from and refine their musical instruments from those created by their Neanderthal cousins? Could these Stone Age people have worked together to form the world’s first Rock band? Anyone?

Or at the very least 3d scan it and print it from one of those fancy 3d printers.