Abstract
The paper is a critical review of different evidence for the interpretation of an extremely important archaeological find, which is marked by some doubt. The unique find, a multiple perforated cave bear femur diaphysis, from the Divje babe I cave (Slovenia), divided the opinions of experts, between those who advocate the explanation that the find is a musical instrument made by a Neanderthal, and those who deny it. Ever since the discovery, a debate has been running on the basis of this division, which could only be closed by similar new finds with comparable context, and defined relative and absolute chronology.
Highlights
Discoveries that shed light, directly or indirectly, on the spiritual life of Neanderthals always attract great attention from the professional and lay public
The unique find, a multiple perforated cave bear femur diaphysis, from the Divje babe I cave (Slovenia), divided the opinions of experts, between those who advocate the explanation that the find is a musical instrument made by a Neanderthal, and those who deny it
Due to the shortcomings the explanation of F. d’Errico and his colleagues regarding the carnivore origin of the holes and damage on femur diaphysis no. 652, more attention is warranted to the alternative explanation of the find and findings connected to it, which are based on the results of appropriate experiments and on indirect evidence from archaeological finds in Mousterian levels of Divje babe I (DB)
Summary
Discoveries that shed light, directly or indirectly, on the spiritual life of Neanderthals always attract great attention from the professional and lay public One such find was unearthed in 1995 in Mousterian level D-1 (layer 8a), as a result of long-lasting (1979–1999) excavations in the Palaeolithic cave site of Divje babe I (DB) in western Slovenia, conducted by the ZRC SAZU Institute of Archaeology from Ljubljana. The main surprise was not the great age of the find (at first 45,000 years, later 50,000–60,000 years), determined with 14 C AMS, U/Th, and ESR on accompanying finds of charcoal, cave bear bones and teeth [8,9,11], but its undeniable attribution to Mousterian culture, i.e., Neanderthals As such, it would represent significant evidence for existence of musical behaviour, long before the spread of anatomically modern humans across.
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