POPE RECEIVES ONE OF THE OLDEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARTIFACT

Ljubljana, 19 September 1999



Photo: BOBO

On occasion of the second visit of Pope John Paul II to Slovenia, the President of the Republic, Mr Milan Kucan, presented the Pope with a silver replica of the oldest archaeological artefact in the world - a bone flute. This important artefact was discovered in Slovenia in 1995, inside the Divje Babe cave in the Idrijca river valley. The flute was found in the remains of a Neanderthal campfire dating back 45,000 years. The flute is made of a section of pipe-like bone of a cave bear cub, with holes drilled to fit the fingers of a hand. Undoubtedly this flute is the oldest flute ever found anywhere in the world and bears witness to the dawn of man's musical creation. This finding sets the beginnings of music another 10,000 years into the past, for other examples of multiple-hole flutes found to date are no older than 36,000 years. The flute is kept by the Archaeological Department of the National Museum of Slovenia.


Photo: BOBO