PREVIEW

Neolithic Europeans were accomplished musicians who were a dab hand at playing the shell trumpet, according to archaeologists.

The use of conch shells as a musical instrument is a staple of culture in parts of the Caribbean, East Asia, and Oceania; however, their early use has been little studied in Europe.

The researchers studied and played 6,000-year-old shell trumpets from Neolithic Catalonia, revealing that they were highly effective for long-distance communication were also effective musical instruments.

“It was known that several Charonia lampas shells had been discovered within a relatively small area of Catalonia–specifically, in the lower course of the Llobregat River and the pre-coastal depression of the Penedès region, to the east of the city of Barcelona”, states co-author of the research, ICREA Full Research Professor Margarita Díaz-Andreu from the University of Barcelona. “They had their apexes removed, leading some researchers to suggest they may have served as musical instruments.”

Examination of the shells indicates that they were collected post-mortem, meaning they would not have been gathered to eat the molluscs within, strengthening the argument that they were sourced exclusively for their sound-producing qualities.

To assess this hypothesis, Professor Díaz-Andreu, alongside researcher Miquel López-Garcia from the University of Barcelona, analysed the shell trumpets and, for the first time, carefully played them to assess their acoustic properties. Their results are published in the journal Antiquity.

Alongside being an archaeologist, López-Garcia is also a professional trumpet player, meaning he was able to test not only the shells’ capacity for long-distance communication, but also their potential to be used as musical instruments.

“The shell trumpets are capable of producing high-intensity sounds and would have been highly effective for long-distance communication”, says López-Garcia. “However, they are also capable of producing melodies through pitch modulation, so the possibility that these shells were also used as musical instruments with an expressive intention cannot be ruled out.”

Importantly, this densely populated region of Catalonia was primarily shaped by Neolithic agricultural activities. Shell trumpets have been found across settlements spanning many tens of kilometres, suggesting they played a significant role in communication and coordination within and between communities.

They likely supported activities across the surrounding agricultural landscapes and within the nearby mines at Gavà, where valuable variscite ore was extracted for the production of widely traded prestige goods such as beads and pendants.

Therefore, these findings indicate that the shell trumpets were more than simple sound-producing tools; they played an active role in shaping the spatial, economic, and social dynamics of Neolithic communities, bringing people closer together through sound-based communication and, perhaps, music.

“Our study reveals that Neolithic people used conch shells not only as musical instruments, but also as powerful tools for communication, reshaping how we understand sound, space, and social connection in early prehistoric communities”, Professor Díaz-Andreu concludes.