Bone Tubes from Corded Ware Culture as Sound Generators/Musical Instruments.

Reconstructing Manufacture and Usage

by Dominika Tokarz
University of Wrocław, Poland

This poster presents the results of an experiment on making a bone tube and testing its acoustic properties. The bone tubes that are the object of the reconstruction are associated with the Corded Ware culture. Such tubes were recorded in graves, mainly as single finds. An exception is an object from the Moravian site - Kostelec na Hané, which provided a set of bone tubes interpreted as a Pan flute. The experiment aims to answer three questions. The first question is about the manufacturing process, the time, materials, and efforts needed to prepare it according to a specific chain operation called a cognigram. The second question concerns the identification of manufacture traces on the bone tube using microscopic methods. The last question relates to the acoustic possibilities of the bone tubes. Acoustic examination includes sound testing during the preparation stages and comparison with the final product. The experiment resulted in detailed data on the bone tube manufacturing process, reference trace observations for use-wear analysis. It demonstrated the relationship between the shaping stage and the acoustic properties of the bone tube.

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