Anasazi Flutes from the Broken Flute Cave

In the summer and fall of 1931, Earl H. Morris led an expedition from The Carnegie Institution of Washington to the Prayer Rock district of NorthEastern Arizona. His team unearthed thousands of artifacts. Among them were wooden flutes that were constructed between 620 and 670 A.D.

The flutes were transferred from the Carnegie Institution to the Arizona State Museum in Tuscon, Arizona in January of 1957.

On August 26, 2002 I had the privilege of studying these flutes, that are still housed at the Arizona State Museum archives. This web page is a collection of information on these flutes, taken from my own observations and various research sources.

Throughout this page, I use the catalog numbers assigned to the artifacts by the Arizona State Museum.

Background

Accounts of Morris's expedition identify the area as the Prayer Rock Valley 45 miles SouthWest of the town of Shiprock, New Mexico. The records of the Carnegie Institution name the location as Atahonez Canyon. The valley is on the Navajo Indian reservation, in Apache County, Arizona.

Morris's team excavated 15 caves. The largest cave contains 16 dwellings and was later named Broken Flute Cave by the Morris team.

From the original field notes of Earl H. Morris:

At the west end of the south wall of Room 4, a slot had been gouged in the floor, its western end extending back under a natural stone in place at the base of the room wall. In this cavity not more than 5 cm. below the floor, were hidden two wooden flutes tied together with strips of yucca. The mouth ends lay toward the east. One of them was stopped at each end with wads of yucca fiber, the other was plugged at one extremity with a corn cob. Enclosing the end farthest distant from the player there was a wad of yucca fiber, placed there to protect the feather ornamentation bound to cover a certain portion of each flute.

These two beautifully crafted and preserved flutes are almost completely intact. They are cataloged A-13994-A and A-13394-B. Some of the feathers had been removed to identify the species of birds, and are now stored alongside the flutes.

The broken pieces of two other flutes were recovered from another dwelling ("Cistern 7") in the same cave, and were restored by Morris. These flutes are cataloged A-14450 and A-14451.

Construction

All four flutes are constructed of Box Elder (Acer negundo) wood. This tree has a large soft pith that can easily be removed.

The two A-13994 flutes have strips of bird skin with red, blue, and black feather fastened near the blowing (proximal) ends with fiber cords.

This diagram made by Elizabeth Ann Morris is from Basketmaker Flutes from the Prayer Rock District, Arizona, American Antiquity, Volume XXIV, No 4, Part 1, April 1959, pp. 406-411. It details the feather decoration of A13994-B. The letters indicate the items in order of attachment. The materials are:

  • a. Barrel of the flute.
  • b. Black crown of Stellar Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri).
  • c. Yucca fiber string.
  • d. Light blue breast feathers of Pinyon Jays (Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus).
  • e. Strips of skin with red feathers from the crown of Red-naped Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis) and the heads of Red-shafted Flickers (Colaptes cafer).
  • f. Yucca fiber string.
  • g. (same as e.)
  • h. Yucca fiber string.

Note that the blowing hole is at the bottom of this diagram. The feathers point toward the player, so the bird feathers are ruffled by the breath of the player.

Notes

A-13994

Neither of the A-13994 flutes can be seen through, due to a corn cob at the top of A-13394-B, and Yucca fibers at the top of A-13394-A and at the bottom of both flutes.

Due to the fragile nature of the fibers holding them together, these flutes were subject to minimal movement.

A-14450

This flute has a dull black finish over much of the flute. This finish gives a clear indication of the use pattern, from the wear of the finish through to the underlying wood. From the angle of the wear marks, it is clear that the upper three holes were played with the right hand and the lower 3 holes were played with the left hand. This is opposite of current convention.

This flute has banding, which may have served to prevent or repair cracks.

  • The first 1.9cm of the flute has no banding and no apparant surface finish.
  • The next 0.92cm has banding.
  • The next 0.88cm has the dull black surface finish.
  • The next 1.47cm has banding.
  • The large central area of the flute has the dull black surface finish.
  • The last 9.26cm has intermittant banding covering about 70% of this portion of the flute.

While the bore on this flute appears almost perfectly straight, it is not centered. The bore appears "off-center" away from the playing holes, so that the wall at the playing holes is slightly thicker than the wall opposite the playing holes.

The mouthpiece has a flattened area on one side of the flute, approximately 60 degrees counter-clockwise from the playing holes as you look down the flute from the proximal blowing end.

A-14451

This flute has no evidence of a finish. It has a polished shiny surface.

This flute has evidence of prior banding.

  • The first 0.87cm of the flute has no banding.
  • The next 1.7cm has evidence of prior banding.
  • The next 0.62cm has no banding.
  • The next 2.94cm has evidence of prior banding.
  • There is no banding on the remainder of the flute.

Each of the finger holes on this flute has "score marks" emanating from the hole. These score marks appear decorative and are roughly 0.7cm long. The top holes has about 18 marks, the second and third holes have 14 marks, the 4th hole has 12 marks, the 5th hole has 10 marks on 3/4 of the circumference (the remainder is uncertain due to cracks), and the bottommost hole appears to have similar lines, but they are largely worn away. Only 3 or 4 radial lines are visible on the last hole.

The finger holes on this flute have very wide, smooth bevels in towards the playing hole, most probably worn by playing.

Music and Intonation

All of these flutes were played! There are wear marks where the thumbs rest on the back of each instrument and A-14450 has clear wear marks around each of the six finger holes.

The style of playing must have been similar to the modern Kaval (popular in Bulgaria), and similar in principle to the Japanese Shakuhachi. The mouth hole is largely covered by the lips (maybe 70%) and the player blows across the portion of the rim of the mouth hole that has not been covered by the lips.

After the Arizona State Museum acquired the flutes, B. M. Makkegard played some notes on A-13994-B and did a tonal analysis. He measured the frequencies to be:

  • Bb (below middle C) - All holes closed
  • C (middle C) - Bottom hole open
  • C# - Two holes open
  • D - Three holes open
  • F - Four holes open
  • G - Five holes open
  • A - All holes open
As with all instruments of the Kaval/Shakuhachi style, a tremendous range is possible because of the ability to change embrochure. Also, cross-fingerings could have been used for additional notes within an octave.

Measurements

These measurements were taken while studying the flutes. All hole measurements are to the center of the hole.

Measurement details A-13994-A A-13994-B A-14450 A-14451
    cm inches cm inches cm inches cm inches
                   
Overall Length   73.72 29.02 72.20 28.43 68.30 26.89 73.60 28.98
Outside Diameter   2.50 0.98 2.53 1.00 2.45 0.96 2.46 0.97
Inside Diameter proximal end 1.74 0.69 1.87 0.74 1.78 0.70 1.62 0.64
  distal end 1.94 0.76 2.06 0.81 1.83 0.72 1.86 0.73
Wall Thickness calculated 0.33 0.13 0.28 0.11 0.32 0.13 0.36 0.14
Hole 1 Location from proximal end 36.10 14.21 35.26 13.88 31.70 12.48 35.30 13.90
  from distal end 37.62 14.81 36.94 14.54 36.60 14.41 38.30 15.08
Size width 0.64 0.25 0.59 0.23 0.68 0.27 0.83 0.33
  length 0.64 0.25 0.60 0.24 0.82 0.32 0.80 0.31
Hole 2 Location from proximal end 40.28 15.86 40.05 15.77 35.80 14.09 39.50 15.55
  from distal end 33.44 13.17 32.15 12.66 32.50 12.80 34.10 13.43
Size width 0.60 0.24 0.58 0.23 0.68 0.27 0.79 0.31
  length 0.63 0.25 0.61 0.24 0.74 0.29 0.80 0.31
Hole 3 Location from proximal end 44.38 17.47 43.32 17.06 39.70 15.63 43.30 17.05
  from distal end 29.34 11.55 28.88 11.37 28.60 11.26 30.30 11.93
Size width 0.62 0.24 0.58 0.23 0.67 0.26 0.77 0.30
  length 0.65 0.26 0.63 0.25 0.75 0.30 0.85 0.33
Hole 4 Location from proximal end 53.20 20.94 52.59 20.71 49.60 19.53 53.00 20.87
  from distal end 20.52 8.08 19.61 7.72 18.70 7.36 20.60 8.11
Size width 0.62 0.24 0.60 0.24 0.66 0.26 0.90 0.35
  length 0.64 0.25 0.63 0.25 0.76 0.30 0.78 0.31
Hole 5 Location from proximal end 57.46 22.62 56.77 22.35 53.50 21.06 57.00 22.44
  from distal end 16.26 6.40 15.43 6.07 14.80 5.83 16.60 6.54
Size width 0.54 0.21 0.60 0.24 0.61 0.24 0.73 0.29
  length 0.62 0.24 0.63 0.25 0.75 0.30 0.81 0.32
Hole 6 Location from proximal end 61.64 24.27 60.88 23.97 57.60 22.68 61.20 24.09
  from distal end 12.08 4.76 11.32 4.46 10.70 4.21 12.40 4.88
Size width 0.58 0.23 0.65 0.26 0.72 0.28 0.89 0.35
  length 0.68 0.27 0.68 0.27 0.83 0.33 0.72 0.28
                   

Discovering a Flute

What is it like for an archeologist to discover a pre-historic flute? Earl Morris gave this account from The National Geographic Magazine, Volume XLVII, No 3, September 1925, pp. 263-300. It describes expedition work done in the Chuska Range of NorthEastern Arizona:

The body was that of an old man, surely once a priest or chief. Beside the usual offerings of beads, baskets, and sandals, there lay above his buckskin wrapping a flute, one end beneath the chin, the other between the thighs. ...

Along the left side was a mass of wooden objects, all readily perishable, hence extremely rare in perfect condition. Conspicuous among them were bone-tipped flint flakers with whch knives and projectile points were made, several spears, four handsomely wrought spear throwers, and three more flutes.

I picked up one of the flutes, shook the dust and mouse dung out of it, and placed it to my lips. The rich, quavering tones which rewarded even my unskilled touch seemed to electrify the atmosphere. In the distance Navajo workmen paused with shovels poised, seeking the source of the sound. A horse raised its head and neighed from an adjacent hillside and two crows flapped out from a crevice overhead.

Our little group was motionless for a dozen heartbeats, which seemed as many minutes. In the weird silence it was as if time had been halted in its flight — nay turned back — for in swift array there crowded through my consciousness the scenes of grief and mourning, of savage pomp and ceremonial, amid which the tones of that instrument had last echoed from the selfsame cliff that now glistened under the rays of the setting sun, which for a brief moment had broken through the dark clouds maksing the November sky.

Acknowledgements

My thanks goes to:

  • Ken Light, for informing me of this amazing resource.
  • The staff of the Arizona State Museum, for providing access to their collections and library resources:
    • Suzanne Griset, Head of the Collections Division, 520-621-2676
    • Mike Jacobs, Archeological Collections Curator.

Web site by Clint Goss - Last updated September 19, 2008.