Host: Craig Dabelstein
Music: Composed by Jeffrey A. Young
Series: The Musical Archeologist: Forgotten Ideas from Music’s Past
Episode Summary
What happens when archaeology, music, and human mortality meet?
In this episode of The Musical Archeologist, Craig Dabelstein explores one of the most unusual stories in the history of musical instruments: the bone flute. Drawing on Ernest Closson’s The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document, the episode examines historical accounts of flutes fashioned from human and animal bones and asks what these extraordinary objects can tell us about the people who created them.
Far from being simply macabre curiosities, bone flutes invite us to think about music in a very different way. Across different cultures and periods of history, musical instruments have often carried meanings far beyond entertainment. They have been connected with ritual, ceremony, remembrance, spirituality, and ideas about life and death.
The episode also reminds us that archaeology is changing our understanding of music’s earliest history. Some of the oldest known musical instruments ever discovered are bone flutes, surviving across thousands of years to offer a rare glimpse into the musical imagination of our distant ancestors. Whether fashioned from the bones of animals or, more rarely, from human remains, these instruments challenge us to see music not merely as art, but as a profound expression of what it means to be human.
Source Book
The idea for this episode comes from:
Ernest Closson, The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document
Translated by Craig Dabelstein
Published by Maxime’s Music
Originally published in Brussels in 1902 as L’Instrument de musique, Closson’s book explores musical instruments as evidence of human history, culture, migration, invention, and belief. Throughout the book, he encourages readers to see instruments not merely as devices that produce sound, but as historical documents that preserve traces of the societies that created them.
Buy the book: https://books.by/maximes-music
Podcast webpage: https://craigdabelstein.com/podcast/
In This Episode
This episode considers:
- the remarkable history of bone flutes;
- some of the oldest surviving musical instruments ever discovered;
- why bone was such an effective material for early wind instruments;
- the relationship between music, ritual, and spirituality;
- what archaeological discoveries can reveal about ancient musical cultures;
- Ernest Closson’s view of musical instruments as historical witnesses.
Links
Craig Dabelstein: https://craigdabelstein.com/
Maxime’s Music: https://www.maximesmusic.com/
Maxime’s Music YouTube: https://youtube.com/@maximes-music
Credits
The Musical Archeologist is written and presented by Craig Dabelstein.
Music composed by Jeffrey A. Young.
This episode is based on ideas from Ernest Closson’s The Musical Instrument as an Ethnographic Document, translated by Craig Dabelstein and published by Maxime’s Music.
Suggested Citation
Dabelstein, Craig. “The Strange Story of the Bone Flute.” The Musical Archeologist: Forgotten Ideas from Music’s Past, Episode 004.