Final answer:
Homo sapiens likely began creating musical instruments by the Upper Paleolithic era, around 40,000 years ago. This period marks a significant change in technology and symbolic expression, indicating a new level of cultural sophistication that included music making.
Step-by-step explanation:
When Homo sapiens first created musical instruments is a fascinating question wrapped up in the prehistory of human culture and ingenuity. Modern Homo sapiens, who were biologically similar to us today, emerged around 300,000 years ago, and it was within this vast expanse of time that they began to cultivate a variety of survival tools, including advanced bone and stone implements and mastering the use of fire. While the oldest known stone tools date back approximately 2.6 million years ago and were likely crafted by Homo habilis, it is in the Upper Paleolithic era, roughly 40,000 years ago, that we see an abrupt change in technology, subsistence patterns, and symbolic expression, indicating a new level of sophisticated culture formation among H. sapiens.
One ethnomusicology study by Emily Brown conducted at Ancestral Puebloan sites discussed the creation of musical instruments, such as percussion and woodwind flutes, used to produce culturally significant music. This study also revealed that Ancestral Puebloan people had a structured system similar to modern apprenticeships for passing down the knowledge of instrument construction. The emergence of complex language, possibly predating the creation of musical instruments, allowed these early humans to communicate and collaborate more effectively, sharing knowledge that could include musical traditions alongside other cultural practices.
The timeline for the first creation of musical instruments by Homo sapiens is not precisely known, but what is clear is that by the Upper Paleolithic era, around 40,000 years ago, we see an emergence of creative expression that likely included the fabrication of musical instruments as part of a broader "human revolution." It was a period comparable in cultural significance to the Industrial Revolution and indicates a time when music and the instruments to produce it would have played a significant role in human society.