12,000-year-old flutes carved of bone are some of the oldest in the world and sound like birds of prey

A collection of flutes carved out of bird bones against a black background.

Archaeologists have unearthed a collection of 12,000-year-old flutes carved out of bird bones at a prehistoric site in Israel. When played, the artifacts mimic the calls of certain birds of prey.

The site, called Eynan-Mallaha (also known as Ain Mallaha), was once occupied by the Natufians, a cultural group that were the last hunter-gatherers in the Levant, a region that spans the land around the eastern Mediterranean, according to a study published Friday (June 9) in the journal Scientific Reports.