Teeth Were Used to Make Music at Stone Age Dance Parties

You know how you go to a party and one guy decides to pull out his guitar? Well, that sort of thing happened back in the Stone Age. And it involved teeth. And was more interesting than that one guy’s cover of “Wonderwall.”

Via Study Finds:

Researchers in Finland have discovered that these hunter-gatherers not only listened to, but danced along to the far-out sounds produced by animal teeth more than 8,000 years ago.

The University of Helsinki’s Riitta Rainio says Stone Age humans used collections of elk teeth tied to their clothing to make some of the first musical pieces created by man.

“Ornaments composed of elk teeth suspended from or sown on to clothing emit a loud rattling noise when moving,” says Rainio, as auditory archaeologist, in a university release. “Wearing such rattlers while dancing makes it easier to immerse yourself in the soundscape, eventually letting the sound and rhythm take control of your movements. It is as if the dancer is led in the dance by someone.”

So, like wearable tambourines! Read more about these toothy instruments HERE!