The Jiahu bone flute is the oldest musical instrument in China, so why do you have to use crane bone

Since the fifties and sixties of the last century, in Jiahu Village, Wuyang County, Henan Province, local villagers often find all kinds of round stone tools and some broken pottery shards when they are working. Later, this phenomenon was noticed by the museum's experts, who collected the pottery and stone tools found by the villagers, and through in-depth research and discussion, it was finally determined that there should be a large Stone Age site in the area of Jiahu Village.

After several years of cleaning and excavation, experts have discovered cultural relics such as houses, red clay and wells. As a result, this site was named "Jiahu Ruins", and at the same time, the large-scale excavation and research of Jiahu ruins gradually kicked off. One of the biggest discoveries was the unearthing of the Jiahu bone flute, which shocked the world in 1986.

The Jiahu bone flute was found in several tombs, and they were placed very close to the tomb owner, some on the waist, some on the hands, and some on the head, which shows that they were very important to the tomb owner. From 1986 to 1987, experts have unearthed more than 20 bone flutes, of which the long ones are more than 20 centimeters, the short ones are more than 10 centimeters, and the number of flute holes ranges from 5 to 7.

After scientific identification, experts determined that the Jiahu bone flutes were about 9,000 years old, and all of them were made of the ulna of cranes. This surprised the experts, because in the Jiahu site, experts have unearthed a large number of other animal bones, such as cow bones, deer bones and bird bones, why did the ancestors of Jiahu all use crane bones to make bone flutes?

Through in-depth research on Jiahu culture, experts speculate that Jiahu ancestors used crane bones to make bone flutes for three main reasons, the first is that cranes can reach the sky, the second is that cranes can know phenology, and the third crane bones have natural "advantages".

From a biological point of view, the crane is the red-crowned crane, its body is soft, the feathers are white and beautiful, and its call can shake people's hearts, such as the "Book of Songs" said that "the crane sings in Jiugao, and the sound is heard in the sky". The ancient ancestors believed that the red-crowned crane was a sacred bird in the fairy world, with the ability to reach the sky, so it was called "the crane", and gradually formed a primitive worship of the crane, so as to use the ulna of the crane to make a bone flute, to play the vocal music and communicate with the crane, but also to communicate with the gods, in order to pray for the blessing of the heavens.

In the long years of observation, the ancient ancestors also found that the crane can "tell the time", because it will chirp on time in the middle of the night every day, as recorded in the "Huainanzi Shuoshan Xun", "the chicken knows the future, the crane knows the middle of the night". Moreover, cranes that are more than 10 years old will chirp every hour, that is, the so-called "ten years and twelve o'clock", which brings great help to people's production and life.

There are three main reasons, the first is that cranes can reach the sky, the second is that cranes can know phenology, and the third crane bones have natural "advantages".

Cranes can know phenology, and crane bones have natural "advantages". So crane bones are used to make musical instruments.

The sound quality is very good, and it lasts for a long time.

1: Cranes can reach the sky.

2: The second is the phenology of cranes.

3: The third crane bone has a natural "advantage".

They collected the pottery and stone tools found by the villagers through in-depth research and discussion.

Cranes can know phenology, crane bones have natural "advantages", and they are also preserved for a long time.

The Jiahu bone flute is a flute made of bones unearthed at the Jiahu site in Wuyang, Henan.

Jiahu bone flute, named after the Jiahu site unearthed in Wuyang, Henan, 7800 9000 years ago, is one of the earliest musical instruments in China, and is now stored in the Henan Museum.

The length of the flute is centimeters, the widest part of the diameter is centimeters, and the utensils are brown as a whole, and the whole body is smooth and crystal clear because of petrification. The flute body has seven holes, which can play music similar to the seven-tone scale, and because the thickness of the bone tube is not the same, it is easy to produce sound difference, so a small hole is opened next to the seven holes to be corrected.

The bone flute was broken into three sections when it was unearthed, and there were multiple conjugation holes at each fracture, indicating that it had been carefully repaired after being broken, which shows that the owner cherished it very much. This is the earliest and most well-preserved wind instrument in the era of Chinese discovery so far, and the discovery of the Jiahu bone flute has rewritten the time and history of China's first origin.

The bone flute is made from a crane ulna tube. Finely ground, 7 holes. There is a small hole between the sixth hole and the seventh hole, which can be pronounced twice after sound measurement, and the tuning hole that should be drilled to adjust the pronunciation of the seventh hole.

It is worth noting that two bone flutes of similar shape were unearthed from the tomb. According to the phonetic research, they are one female and one male, which confirms the finger punching tradition of male and female flutes in China since ancient times.

This flute was tested and proved to be a vertical bone flute, and it was also the ancestor of the recorder flute or cave flute in later generations. At that time, people used this flute to play rhythmic notes as a way to express their feelings about life and respect for the gods; Modern ** people can still play the pentatonic tune "Little Cabbage" with this flute.