may
have been played as part of a ritual which also included rock art.
Bone flutes
The oldest artefacts ever recovered that have been
positively identified as musical instruments are bone flutes. There have
been numerous finds in caves throughout Northern Europe. The earliest
date from 40 to 35 thousand years ago. Their age coincides with the emergence
of the first rock art. Recent experiments have indicated a possible link
between the visual images in caves and the surrounding acoustic properties,
suggesting that music may
have been played as part of a ritual which also included rock art.
Many types of bone are used for flutes and whistles. Most commonly employed are the leg or wing bones of birds. The oldest flute from Geissenklosterle in Germany is fashioned from the radius of a hooper swan. Animal bones from sheep or goats are also employed and in certain cases even human bones. The earliest bone flutes in Ireland date from the Viking era but there can be no doubt that bone instruments were common in Ireland much earlier and were probably introduced with the first human habitation after the Ice Age. The simple tin or penny whistle, which is played so proficiently in Irish traditional music has its origins in a bone ancestor.
Stone flutes
Many ancient peoples used simple stone flutes to
imitate birds or animals, sometimes perhaps in ritual 
celebration
or as lures to entice a bird close enough to catch it. Stones can be
found on 
the
shoreline of Ireland which have small holes in them and through them.
These stones were bored by a shellfish which drilled holes through them and
left them to be washed up on the beach. With careful searching many stones
with a variety and numbers of holes can be found. In one instance a stone
was recovered from Killiney beach in Dublin with three interconnected holes
through it. It was subsequently discovered that with a little practice
a full scale could be played on it.
Stone percussion
It is the most natural thing in the world to take
a small stone into each hand and click them together in a rhythmic beat.
The size, shape and density of the stones will determine the sound of the click.
The harder the stone the sharper the sound. Certain large rocks
were revered for the ringing sound thy made when struck. Many, known
as ringing rocks survive in situ and some bear the marks of being repeatedly
struck over a long period of time. 
Flat
rectangular stones of lengths that vary from short to long if carefully chosen,
could be tied together, presented side by side in a line and struck with wooden
sticks. If each was picked for the particular note it produced then together
they would make up an early marimba which would sound very good in the hands
of a proficient player.
Bow and arrow
The bow and arrow is a very curious musical instrument.
The fact that it has another purpose as a weapon is unusual. It is interesting
to pose the question which came first. It is not hard to imagine somebody
tying a string
onto a piece of stick tight enough to bend the stick and thus tension the string
so that when tapped lightly with a short stick it would sound. The tone can
be amplified and varied with the mouth cavity of the player or by attaching
a hollow vessel at one or other end. Thus 
the
first stringed instrument appears, yet one day the players young son might be
fiddling around so that he accidentally notches the tapping stick on the string
and then pulls with his finger and lets go so that the stick flies through the
air. Of course he wants to do it again and then he wants to show others until
someone realises what had just been invented. Which came first? Native tribes
in Central Africa still employ both the bow and arrow and the musical bow in
their hunting and music traditions.
Animal horns
Hollow animal horns such as those of cattle sheep
goats or antelope were probably the first lip reed instruments. With
the advent of agriculture horns were easily accessible and simple to construct.
All that was required was to 
cut
the end off and carve a cushion mouthpiece or to drill a mouthpiece into the
side of the horn near the closed end. Horns of this nature are still
played throughout sub-Saharan Africa while a ram’s horn when carved and
blessed by a rabbi becomes the shofar, an important part of the Jewish faith.
In Ireland there have been no animal horn finds from prehistory.
However, one carved cow horn of unknown age was found during renovation in a
public bar in Connemara (see ‘Prehistoric Music of Ireland’), and
there is still a living memory of a fertility ritual which took place near Pilltown,
Co. Kilkenny. When an older man married a younger woman, animal horns
and bottles with the base removed were blown from the hills around the area
to help give him success on the wedding night or as quoted ‘to put lead
in his pencil’. The last time this ritual took place was in 1935.
It is quite possible that the tradition 
may
have had its origins in prehistory. The evolvement of the great cast
bronze horns of the later Bronze Age must have had its origins in animal horns.
(see ‘Prehistoric Music of Ireland’). Their flowing curves
and regular shape closely resemble cattle horns and it is thought that they
were evolved as a part of a bull cult. Many examples of similar cults
are found in the prehistoric world.
Bodhrán
The Bodhrán or ‘deafner’ is a
simple frame drum. A frame drum may be best described as a narrow hoop
of wood with an animal skin stretched and secured to one side. Frame
drums are common both in prehistory and 
the
present day. There is uncertainty as to the actual age of the bodhrán
tradition in Ireland but the unique swinging sideways style of playing which
is employed only in Ireland probably indicates that the bodhrán has been
a part of Irish music since its earliest origins. 
While it is true to say that probably none of the music from prehistoric Ireland
survives into the present, yet the bodhrán is a living part of Irish
music. It produces widely varied and complex rhythms which are ideally
suited to the flowing intricacies of the tunes. In recent times the sound
of the bodhrán has begun to move out of its traditional role in Irish
music into new disciplines. Experimental collaboration with African drumming
and dance rhythms have proved very successful and clearly point to a new and
bright future for the it.
Bones
A pair of curved lengths of bone that are carved from the ribs of a cow are played to produce a fast rhythmic clicking percussion. The two bones are approximately 12 cm long and 3 cm wide and are gripped together in the fingers of one hand so that when the hand is held upright and swung evenly from side to side the bones will produce the sound. As with the bodhrán, the exact age and origin of the bones is unknown. Yet the swinging hand motion is similar and it is possible that they both come from the same time.
Prehistoric Music Ireland,
Crimlin, Corrnamona,
Co. Galway, Ireland
Phone: +353(0) 949 548 396
bronzeagehorns@eircom.net
©2005,PREHISTORIC MUSIC IRELAND