Answer :

It is difficult to know what kinds of music the earliest humans made due to the scarcity of archaeological evidence, perishability of materials, and the complexity involved in deducing how ancient instruments were played. The oldest known musical instruments suggest sophisticated musical activity, and the brain structures related to music and language hint at music's evolutionary importance for social cohesion and communication.

Understanding the music of the earliest humans is challenging due to the lack of concrete archaeological evidence and the perishable nature of many of the materials that would have been used to create sound. Instruments like flutes found in the Hohle Fels cave, made from bone and ivory and dating to around 40,000 years ago, reveal sophisticated musical activity towards the end of the Upper Paleolithic era. These instruments are among the earliest proof of artistic creation by humans, yet how they were played, and the music they produced, leaves much to speculation and deductive reasoning by ethnomusicologists.

Moreover, musicality's presence in human evolution, from our common ancestors with chimpanzees through the development of hunter-gatherer societies, indicates music's importance for social cohesion and communication. Short of discovering a prehistoric recording, our understanding of early human music must rely on indirect evidence, such as the study of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, the examination of ancient artifacts, and the reconstruction of ancient instruments.

The evolution of music, deeply interwoven with language, has left indelible marks on our social and cognitive development, as demonstrated by the brain circuits that process both music and language. As such, the adaptive benefits of musicality and its potential survival advantage to early humans can only be inferred through the archaeological record and study of our brain's complex structures and systems.

Thank you for reading the article Why will it be difficult to know what kinds of music the earliest humans made. We hope the information provided is useful and helps you understand this topic better. Feel free to explore more helpful content on our website!

Rewritten by : Jeany