17,000-year-old conch shell horn rediscovered in French museum

Explaining the importance of the find

Explaining the importance of the find Credit: Natural History Museum of Toulouse

A LARGE conch shell that was found in an excavation of a cave containing prehistoric cave paintings in the French Pyrenees in 1931 was wrongly identified as a drinking vessel.

Since then, it has languished in the bowels of the Natural History Museum of Toulouse until archaeologists from the local university took a new look at it and suspected that it might be a musical instrument as there appeared to be certain man-made modifications to it.

Having dated the shell to the Magdalenian period (around 17,000 years ago), the researchers, according to their published report in journal Science Advances, needed to check their theory and hoping it wouldn’t shatter, persuaded a French Horn player to give it a blow.

To their delight, not only did it make a sound but they recorded and analysed the noise, deciding that it produced three identifiable notes, C, C sharp and D.

What was considered to be a vaguely interesting drinking vessel has now been upgraded to what is probably the oldest existing seashell instrument in the world.

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “17,000-year-old conch shell horn rediscovered in French museum”.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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