There is not the slightest doubt about the authenticity of the piece.  I
first followed up Bob Fink's appeal for info. on the likely minimum
length of the juvinile Cave bear (Ursus speleaus) - in relation to the
possible range of notes - with work on the large collections in Prague in
March.

Then in April I saw the recently excavated Neanderthal flute itself in the
National Museum in Ljubljana, Slovenia - no doubt about either provenanve
or what it is - or its date: between 40,000 and 45,000 radiocarbon years.

The museum has also made an exact copy to play, a recording of which is
played in the exhibition.  As worked out by Bob Fink from the mathematics
of the piece it plays what we like to think of as the modern
Western musical scale - in a minor key.


Patrick Boylan

=============================================


On Wed, 9 Jul 1997, kevin mccartney wrote (amongst other things):

> To MUSEUM-L subscribers:  I'd like to see some discussion and more
> information on this item.  If I remember right there was a
> Neanderthal-flute piece in the April issue of _Discover_. I took this to
> be an April Fool's joke by the _Discover_ editorial staff, as they have
> taken to including _National Enquirer_ type spoofs in the past several
> April issues.
>
> Bob Fink in his message implies that there really was a Neanderthal
> flute but that that information cannot be disseminated through the
> reviewed literature.  Mr. Fink should offer greater substantiation
> before asking us to subsidize the publication and distribution of this
> information.