Divje Babe

The origin of music itself is very difficult to determine because in all probability, it is likely to have begun with singing and clapping or beating the hands on different surfaces, for which there is no of course no archaeological record. However, between at least 60,000 and 30,000 years ago, ancient humans experienced a type of ‘cultural explosion’ – they started creating art in the form of paintings on cave walls, jewellery and ornaments, and to bury their dead ceremonially. If we assume that these new forms of behaviour reflect the emergence of intentionality, then music as we know it must also have emerged at least during this period. Evolutionary scientists believe that a musical culture would have helped prehistoric