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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 of 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. 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 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.
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