It’s an extremely rare example of a “seashell horn” from the Paleolithic period, the team concluded. And it still works — a musician recently coaxed three notes from the 17,000-year-old shell.

Seashell solo. A recording of an approximately 18,000-year-old conch shell that was made into a horn demonstrates the sounds it could have made. The tones are close to the musical notes C, D and C ...

A horn made from a conch shell over 17,000 years ago has blasted out musical notes for the first time in millennia. Archaeologists originally found the seashell in 1931, in a French cave that ...

The horn produced clear C, C sharp and D notes. The researchers estimate it to be around 18,000 years old. Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances .

A seashell found in a French cave in 1931 appears to have been modified by prehistoric people so that it could be used like a trumpet. This horn, however, is not the oldest known musical instrument.

This seashell horn, with its unique sonority, both deep and strong with an enduring reverberation, sheds light on a musical dimension until now unknown in the context of Upper Paleolithic societies.

WASHINGTON — A large conch shell overlooked in a museum for decades is now thought to be the oldest known seashell instrument — and it still works, producing a deep, plaintive bleat, like a ...

She feared that playing the 12-inch shell might damage it, but it didn’t. The horn produced clear C, C sharp and D notes. The researchers estimate it to be around 18,000 years old.

A large conch shell overlooked in a museum for decades is now thought to be the oldest known seashell instrument — and it still works, producing a deep, plaintive bleat, like a foghorn from the ...

Ancient shell horn can still play a tune after 18,000 years A large conch shell overlooked in a museum is now thought to be the oldest known seashell instrument, and it can still play a tune ...