Ancient Musical Instruments for Kids

How Did Music Begin?

People have been making music for thousands of years, but no one knows exactly when music began. Before musical instruments were invented, early humans may have created rhythms by clapping, stamping their feet, or striking objects together. They may also have sung and imitated sounds from nature.

Unfortunately, sounds disappear after they are made. Unlike pottery, paintings, or stone tools, songs do not leave physical remains. Archaeologists must study surviving instruments, ancient artwork, and written records to learn about early music.

Some of the oldest widely accepted musical instruments date back approximately 40,000 years. However, music itself may be much older.

Did Hunting Influence the Development of Musical Instruments?

In his 1988 scholarly article The Origin of Musical Instruments and Sounds, music archaeologist Bo Lawergren proposed that many early musical instruments may have developed from hunting tools.

Early hunters could have used sounds to communicate with one another, attract animals, or frighten animals toward a hunting area.

For example:

• Loud sounds from striking bones, wood, or stones could have helped hunters signal across distances.
• Horns, whistles, and reed-like sounds could have imitated animal calls.
• Hunting bows may have inspired musical bows when people discovered that vibrating strings produced sounds.
• Simple spinning objects could produce buzzing sounds, leading to instruments such as bullroarers.

This is one theory about how musical instruments developed, not a proven explanation for the origin of all music. Early people may also have created instruments for ceremonies, dancing, storytelling, communication, and enjoyment.

What Were the Earliest Musical Instruments?

Percussion Instruments: Hit, Shaken, or Scraped

Percussion instruments make sound when an object vibrates after being hit, shaken, or scraped.

Early people had access to materials such as animal bones, stones, wood, and shells. These materials could produce many different sounds without complicated tools.

Archaeologists have studied ancient bones that may have served as scrapers or percussion instruments. One collection of mammoth bones has even been interpreted as a possible prehistoric percussion ensemble, although researchers have disagreed about whether it was used to make music.

Because wood, plant materials, and animal skins often decay, some ancient percussion instruments may never be discovered.

Wind Instruments: Flutes, Reeds, and Horns

Wind instruments produce sounds using vibrating air.

Bone flutes: Some prehistoric flutes were made from hollow bird bones. By blowing across an opening and covering different finger holes, a musician could produce different pitches.

Reed instruments: Blowing across or between plant leaves can produce buzzing sounds. This sound-making principle may have inspired some early reed instruments. Much later, ancient civilizations used reed instruments such as the Greek aulos.

Horns and shell trumpets: Animal horns and large seashells could be used to produce loud sounds for communication, ceremonies, and music.

String Instruments: Musical Bows and Harps

String instruments, also called chordophones, produce sound when their strings vibrate.

One possible early string instrument was the musical bow. Like a hunting bow, it consisted of a flexible piece of material connected by a string. Plucking or striking the string could produce a musical tone.

Some ancient cave illustrations have been interpreted as showing musical bows. However, archaeologists cannot always determine whether the pictures represent weapons, musical instruments, or something else.

Another proposed early string instrument is the ground harp or ground zither. This design used a stretched string tied to a tree branch, connected to a resonating structure near the ground. Some researchers have suggested a possible connection with early trapping devices, but they don’t know for sure.

Other Early Sound-Making Methods

Bullroarer: A thin, flat object attached to a string produces a deep buzzing or humming sound when swung through the air. Bullroarers have been used in different cultures, sometimes in ceremonies and communication.

Hand-song: Instead of using a separate instrument, a person produces a sustained vocal sound while moving a hand near the mouth. The hand changes the resonance and creates an unusual sound effect.

Lawergren proposed that this technique may have been useful for signaling and animal imitation. Ancient Egyptian artwork provides examples of singers holding their hands near their mouths, although the images cannot tell us exactly what sounds they made.

The Oldest Surviving Musical Instruments

Prehistoric Bone Flutes from Germany

Some of the earliest widely accepted musical instruments were discovered in caves in southwestern Germany, including Hohle Fels and Geißenklösterle.

These flutes date to approximately 35,000–40,000 years ago, with some dating estimates extending farther back.

They were made from bird bones and mammoth ivory. The finger holes allowed musicians to change pitch.

These discoveries provide strong evidence that prehistoric people were making musical instruments long before written music existed.

The Divje Babe Bone: A Possible Neanderthal Instrument

An unusual cave-bear bone was discovered in the Divje Babe cave in Slovenia in 1995.

The bone is approximately 50,000–60,000 years old and has holes that some researchers believe were deliberately created to make a musical instrument.

If this interpretation is correct, it could be evidence that Neanderthals made music using a type of bone flute.

However, researchers disagree about the origins of the holes. Some believe they were deliberately made, while others have argued that animal activity or other natural processes may explain them.

Today, the Divje Babe bone remains an important but debated archaeological discovery.

Listen and explore

Modern musicians have experimented with reconstructions of the Divje Babe instrument. These performances demonstrate possible sounds, not a surviving Neanderthal melody.

What Do Ancient Pictures and Stories Tell Us About Music?

Ancient artwork shows people playing instruments, singing, and participating in musical activities.

For example, an Egyptian boat model dating to approximately 2000 BCE depicts a singer holding a hand near the mouth while another musician plays a harp.

Stories from ancient Greek and Chinese traditions also describe the relationship between music, animals, and the natural world.

These images and stories tell us about the importance of music in different civilizations. However, a picture or legend created thousands of years ago cannot, by itself, prove exactly how prehistoric music began.

When Did People Begin Writing Music?

For thousands of years, music was probably passed from one person to another through listening, demonstration, and memory.

Eventually, people developed written ways to communicate musical information.

Ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets dating back approximately 4,000 years contain early evidence of musical instructions and hymns, including material associated with the Sumerian ruler Lipit-Ishtar.

A later discovery, Hurrian Hymn No. 6, dates to approximately 1400 BCE. Found at Ugarit in present-day Syria, this clay tablet preserves the words of a hymn to the goddess Nikkal together with musical instructions.

It is one of the oldest substantially complete surviving examples of notated music.

Scholars have created modern interpretations of the hymn, but they do not all agree about the exact pitches, rhythms, or performance.