Ancient tunes

Did you know that trumpets are one of the oldest instruments out there?

Credit: Karim MANJRA

Music has been a part of our civilization since ancient times: In fact, some archaeologists believe that humans have played and enjoyed music since the dawn of time. In any case, while music understandably evolves as we do, the sense of wonder and magic that we feel whenever we hear a particularly good song is probably similar to what our forefathers felt. However, it is true that the ancient times didn’t have the instruments we know today, so we have decided to highlight 10 instruments from the past: Some of these instruments are the direct ancestors of some of our modern instruments, while others remain relevant to this day. Enjoy!

Credit: Birmingham Museums Trust

We’ll start with the closest ancestor to the quintessential musical instrument of our times. While the guitar reigns supreme in any rock band worth its salt, the lute was definitively the instrument of choice for most Renaissance musicians. However, the origins of this instrument date back a lot farther: Some Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depict musicians playing early versions of the lute.

Credit: Luigie Guissepe Marin Astete

The ocarina, also known by the less dignified name of "potato flute", is one of the oldest instruments out there, dating back 12,000 years before our time. Most ocarinas are comprised of an enclosed space, usually made of clay or ceramic, and they have between 4 and 12 finger holes and a mouthpiece. The earliest versions of this instrument were found in China, where it played an essential part in the development of this civilization’s music.

Credit: Philipp Aleev

The didgeridoo is one of the peculiar instruments in this article. Developed by Australian aboriginal tribes at least 1,000 years ago, the droning and unique sound of the didgeridoo comes from its distinctive (and difficult to master) breathing technique. Traditionally, didgeridoo makers made use of trees that had a large termite presence since their activity would render the branches of these trees hollow and perfect for making this instrument.

Credit: Manuel Cossio

Nowadays, the gong is considered more of a ceremonial tool than a traditional musical instrument: For instance, a gong was once struck at the start and end of trading on Wall Street until it was replaced by a bronze bell in 1903. However, you can still see this percussion instrument present in some orchestras, especially in those who regularly play traditional music from Southeast Asia and East Asia.

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Have you ever wondered where the Pan flute got its name? It comes from Pan, the Ancient Greek god of nature and shepherds. This god is usually depicted with the hindquarters of a goat and playing this traditional instrument. Interestingly, the pan flute is, to this day, an essential part of traditional South American music, and it is found in pieces all over the continent.

Credit: Alena Darmel

Before becoming a staple instrument in traditional Mexican music, the earliest version of the maracas could be found in pre-Columbian societies in Latin and South America: Ancestors to the maracas we know today were present in places like Brazil, Venezuela, and even the U.S. state of Florida.

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In 1922, when archaeologist Howard Carter excavated Tutankhamun's tomb, he came across a pair of silver and bronze trumpets, the earliest version of this instrument at the time. Nowadays, we know that other ancestors of the trumpet could be found in Scandinavia (known as the lurr) and in Ancient China.

Credit: Hert Niks

Just like the pan flute, the lyre is one of the quintessential instruments associated with the Ancient Greeks: The Greeks believed that it was created by the god Hermes, although Apollo, the god of music, is often depicted holding a lyre in his arms. Regardless, this instrument is closely related to the lute and, as such, it is a direct ancestor to both the harp and the guitar.

Credit: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0

To this day, Japan holds its traditional instruments in high regard: It is not uncommon to see a skilled musician play the shamisen or the taiko drum. However, the instrument that is perhaps closest to this nation’s heart is the koto, considered Japan’s national instrument. The koto was brought to Japan from China during the 7th and 8th centuries, where it quickly became synonymous with traditional Japanese music.

Credit: Nishal Pavithran

We’ll end with the oldest known musical instrument in history. A pair of bone flutes was found by archaeologists in Germany, dating back to an outstanding 40,000 years before our time. What’s perhaps most moving about these rudimentary flutes is that experts believe that they were used in important ceremonies, or for something as important as storytelling: These simple facts are a perfect example of why music is so essential for our development as a species.

Figments of the imagination

Abandon ship! 12 mysterious islands in fiction

Credit: Jad Limcaco

Whether idyllic or dangerous, mapped or mysterious, fictional islands make us want to get on a boat and become castaways. Cinema, television, and literature have allowed us to discover countless exotic lands that, despite being invented, are still fascinating. From Atlantis to Neverland, discover 12 fictional islands that, although they never existed, have earned a well-deserved place on the maps of world culture.

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The legendary island of Atlantis is arguably the inspiration for many of the other islands listed in this article. It first appeared in Plato’s writings and was described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world. Since then, Atlantis has become an allegory for lost civilizations and has been depicted in literature, films, and television shows many times.

Although nowadays everyone agrees on the story's fictional nature, there is still a debate on whether a real place influenced Plato. The search for it has attracted the attention of fictional heroes, but many real-life archaeologists and explorers have also devoted much time and effort to the quest.

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A tale of pirates and treasures buried in the sand, Robert Louis Stevenson's novel laid the groundwork for the Caribbean island archetype —beautiful, exotic, and deeply wild— that other writers and screenwriters would later replicate for decades.

In addition to the numerous film and television adaptations, the characters, setting, and events of this novel have greatly influenced modern imagery of pirate fiction, including schooners, treasure maps marked with an "x," and one-legged sailors with parrots on their shoulders.

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Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna are two islands supposedly located west of Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean that serve as the main setting in the novels and film adaptations of Jurassic Park. However, for the film version, Steven Spielberg used the Hawaiian island of Kauai as a stand-in for the fictional islands.

On Isla Nublar lies the zoo that houses the genetically engineered dinosaurs created by John Hammond and the InGen Corporation. On Sorna, on the other hand, the dinosaurs are on the loose. Fun fact: Isla Nublar is perhaps the only island people can actually visit —so to speak— since there’s a replica at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

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Odysseus visits countless islands during his great journey back home: the island of the nymph Calypso and the beautiful sorceress Circe, the island of the Lotophages, the island of the Cyclops, and the island of the gigantic Lestrygonians, among many others. However, the one that stands out the most in the work of the Greek poet Homer is Ithaca, home to his beloved Penelope and his son Telemachus.

Although there is an island of the same name in Greece, Homer's Ithaca is a figment of his imagination. The author describes it as a rocky island, unsuitable for horse breeding but rich in wheat, vineyards, and pastures.

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Skull Island is a fictional island lost in the Indian Ocean, somewhere off the coast of Sumatra. In the center of the island stands a huge rock that resembles the shape of a human skull, from which it gets its name.

Skull Island is the home of King Kong, several other prehistoric species of creatures, and a primitive human society. It's the main setting of three major films and a pseudo-documentary about the island's animal life.

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This idyllic island lost in the middle of the ocean appears in the works of Thomas More. Utopia is an example of the perfect state where its inhabitants enjoy physical and moral well-being. Utopia literally translates as "no place", coming from the Greek οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place").

Inspired by the fantastic narratives of the New World, More imagined an island created by the people, a crescent-shaped belt of land, housing 54 city-states all of equal size where religious freedom is celebrated and private property is condemned.

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"The Island" is the major setting of the popular six-season-long television show Lost. This particular fictional island is not only a remote and mysterious place, it also serves as a character.

The Island has mysterious powers that can go beyond its geographic location. It is difficult to find and can apparently "move" through an unknown process. This place is so incredible that it features time travel, slave ships, supernatural monsters, large deadly animals, hidden treasures, scary scientists, supervillains, references to antiquity, and more. In short, a combination of various aspects of the other islands on this list rolled into one.

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Deserted islands are often a metaphor for human isolation. This thesis is more than proven in Life of Pi, a best seller and famous film about a boy who must survive a journey back to civilization accompanied by a Bengal tiger.

The island in Life of Pi is hauntingly beautiful at first glance, with jungles, meerkats, food, and drink. However, it soon reveals itself to be carnivorous, feeding on its own inhabitants and reminding Pi that excessive comfort can also be dangerous.

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The book The Mysterious Island was a sequel to Jules Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways. In this story, five men, Northern prisoners during the American Civil War, find a way to escape thanks to a hot air balloon. After several days suspended in the air due to a hurricane, they finally land on an island they name Lincoln, in honor of Abraham Lincoln.

While on the island, thanks to the protagonist's knowledge in the fields of physics, agriculture, and chemistry the group are able to sustain themselves. When they find a message in a bottle a whole host of adventures ensue.

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Neverland is a fictional island described in J. M. Barrie's fantasy play and novel Peter Pan. Remote and exotic, on this island children don’t grow up and live without rules or responsibilities, spending most of their time having fun and living adventures.

Neverland is home to the Lost Boys, fairies, fearsome pirates, Indians, mermaids, and other fantastic creatures that inhabit the jungles and deep waters. According to the legend, if you want to reach Neverland, you must fly to the top of the sky and turn to the second star on the right, flying until sunrise.

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While some islands offer sun, beaches, and a warm climate, not many can boast a community of wild human-beasts created by a mad scientist. The island of Doctor Moreau, or Noble Isle, as described in the original book by H.G. Wells, is an isolated piece of land populated by animal-human hybrids trying to find a balance between their social principles and their animal nature.

Multiple film adaptations of this story, and the whole notion of animal experimentation by a mad scientist, serve as a definite precursor to Jurassic Park, and probably a few of the storylines in Lost.

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Mr. Roarke, an enigmatic host at a luxury resort on a mysterious island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean receives people who arrive by seaplane, upon payment of US$50,000, to make their most extravagant dreams and fantasies come true.

Although not fully described in the television series aired from 1977 to 1984, on this island some fantasies have to do with the real world and others have mythological elements. Whatever the case, there is always some mystery, illusion, and wizardry involved in the plots.