A Timeline of Flute Development

This page provides a vertical timeline for the historical flutes and flute-related developments surveyed on Flutopedia.

The rightmost column shows a rough guide the ranges of various eras in development, based on the Pecos Classification with dates from [DOE 2008] , appendix U, pages U-9 to U-16. These eras and their associated dates vary, sometimes widely, among different sources. Also, for an analysis of timeframes before the Early Basketmaker II era, see [Miller-MR 2004].

Some notes on the dates used in this timeline:

In cases where a date range is provided by radiocarbon dating, the center of the radiocarbon date range is given as a single date.
In cases where a broad range of dates could apply, the range is shown.
Approximate dates are marked by “circa”.
More hypothetical dates are marked by “Est.” (Estimated).
Dates that are subject to heated discussions, debates, and disputes are marked with “?”.

Europe and Asia	The Americas	North America	Pecos Classification
Dates BCE
41,100 Divje Babe Artifact
41,000–40,000 Hohle Fels Griffon Vulture Flute
35,000–31,000 Ulm Whooper Swan Flute
35,000–28,000 Ulm Mammoth Ivory Flute
33,000–18,000 Isturitz Flutes
circa 30,000 Dordogne Bone Flutes
5720–5620 Jiahu Gudi		5720–5440 L'Anse Amour Flute	8000 – 1200 Archaic Era
		7000–4000 East-Texas Flute
3200–3050 Two Dog Pallete
2700–2500 Cycladic Flute Player
2500 Early Sumerian Flutes
	2170 Caral Flutes
2167 Wicklow Pipes
1446?–300? Early Talmudic/Biblical Texts			1200 BCE – 50 CE Early Basketmaker II Era
899–800 Book of Songs		756–203 Mammoth Cave Reed Flute
433 Chinese Di Lacquered Transverse Flute		300–150 Pre-Pottery Phase Tularosa Cave Flutes
Dates Spanning BCE–CE
		396 BCE – 53 CE Kin-Boko Reed Flutes
	300 BCE – 250 CE Colima Culture Flutes	150 BCE – 500 CE Pine Lawn Phase Tularosa Cave Flute
Dates CE
		200–300 Talus Village Bone Flute	50–500 CE Late Basketmaker II Era
	200–600 Nasca Flute	200–500 Hopewell Tradition Panpipes
		470–489 Obelisk Cave Reed Flutes
		500–700 Georgetown Phase Tularosa Cave Flute	500–750 CE Basketmaker III Era
	400–700 Multiple Flutes	500–750 (Est.) Gypsum Cave Flutes
	600–900 Dresden_Codex	600–800 Bear Ruin Bone Whistles
		620–670 Broken Flute Cave Flutes
	700 Jaina Block Flute

		690–944 Pueblo Bonito Flutes	750–900 Pueblo I Era
		750–900 Grand Gulch Flute	750–900 Pueblo I Era
		750–1250 (Est.) Range Creek Fremont Flute	900–1150 Pueblo II Era
		1020–1160 Breckenridge Flute	900–1150 Pueblo II Era
1000–1400 Medieval Flutes		1253–1284 Mummy Cave Flutes	1150–1350 Pueblo III Era
		1100–1350 Middle Mississippi Flutes
		1266–1277 The Nordenskiöld Spring House Flute
		1246–1286 The Betatakin Flute
1400–1600 Renaissance Flutes		1350–1600 Upper Mississippi Flutes	1350–1600 Pueblo IV Era
		1375–1475 Poshuouinge Bone Flutes	1350–1600 Pueblo IV Era
1600–1760 Baroque Flutes			1600–Present Pueblo V Era
1760–1820 The Classical Flute
1810–1877 Boehm Flute Development		1823 The Beltrami Flutes
		1825–1826 Hutter Winnebago Flute
		circa 1830 The Von Roenne Flute
		1832 George Catlin Pawnee Flute
		1833–1834 The Màndeh-Pàhchu Flute
		1845 Nancy Lewis Holding a Flute