The New York Times published an article yesterday about the discovery of a flute dating 35,000 to 40,000 years ago. Found in the Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany, this instrument was crafted by a human living 5,000 to 10,000 years before the last Neanderthal died. It was this group of music-loving Homo sapiens to which the artisan belonged, who filled the Neanderthal niche.
The 5-hole flute, made of a 8 1/2" griffon vulture bone, is expected to have produced a variety of pitches within a fairly large range, given that a wooden reproduction of a previously-found 24,000 year old ivory 3-hole flute, discovered in approximately the same area, came close to the sounds of a modern flute. A sculpture, also from the Stone Age, was unearthed a mere few feet away from the 5-hole bone flute.
Nicholas J. Conrad of the University of Tubingen, along with other archaeologists, speculate that perhaps music helped keep the humans, who survived the Neanderthals, together in community during the Stone Age and that congregating in those bigger groups may have contributed to their longevity . Mr. Wilford quotes the archaeologists. [Music] "'could have contributed to the maintenance of larger social networks, and thereby perhaps have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans.'"
Members of the Wachusett Regional School Committee, as well as teachers who voted to accept a sacrifice, deserve to be applauded in their decision to maintain art and music within the district. As can be inferred from John Wilford's NY Times article, the arts are staples, not "frills." Let us all therefore, continue to keep the arts vibrant, alive and taught in the schools, lest we get replaced by a bunch of neanderthals.
Read about the discovery of the 35,000 year old flute and a so-called "Venus" sculpture in the caves of Germany, as well as WRSD's meeting Tuesday evening upholding music and art.
New York Times, Wednesday, June 24, 2009, "Flutes Offer Clues to Stone-Age Music" by John Noble Wilford, Science Section
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/science/25flute.html?_r=1&em
Telegram & Gazette, Thursday, June 25, 2009, "School committee OKs $73M Wachusett budget" p. B8, Local Meeting Roundup Section
http://www.telegram.com/article/20090625/NEWS/906250625/1101/LOCAL
New York Times, May 13, 2009, "Full-Figured Statuette, 35,000 Years Old, Provides New Clues To How Art Evolved," by John Noble Wilford, Science Section
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/science/14venus.html
Boston Globe June 25, 2009, "Hunters, gatherers, musicians" by Carolyn Y. Johnson, p.A1
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/06/25/archaeologists_unearth_oldest_musical_instruments_ever_found/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
If it's a choice between music or multiplication tables, I choose multiplication tables.
And once again the charade about laying off teachers is exposed. Year after year the Mr. Pandiscio threatens the loss of teachers and then the money is found. Personally, I am tired of his game.
But the real fraud is that the legislature is able to pit the public vs the police vs the fire vs the schools when the REAL battle is between waste and efficiency.
We're all glad the district did not have to choose between math and the arts, and you're correct, Mr. Frum, in your comments about waste and efficiency. That is where the debate should be.
Post a Comment