6 Oldest Objects in Museums Around the World

The history of humanity can be traced back through the history of objects - sculptures, musical instruments, tools, and devotional treasures. Scroll on to discover some of the earliest known human-made objects we've yet found.

This bone flute is the oldest known musical instrument in the world. Found in the Divje Babe cave in northwestern Slovenia in 1995, the flute is thought to have been made by Neanderthals around 40,000 years ago. This incredible find shows that pre-historic cultures had an appreciation for music and gives us a tantalizing glimpse into Neanderthal life 40 millennia ago.

Printed in the late 7th century, the St Cuthbert Gospel is the oldest European book still in existence. For centuries, the book lay in the coffin of St Cuthbert, an early Christian leader buried on the island of Lindisfarne, England around 698 CE. The book still retains its original red leather exterior and is beautifully preserved from cover to cover. 

Made around 9,000 years ago in the Judean Hills region of the Middle East, this incredible mask was painstakingly carved from solid stone. Probably used in Stone Age rituals, the mask may have represented dead ancestors or been used to tell stories. Originally, the mask would have been complete with a head of real hair, adding a further sense of uncanniness to what is already a rather eerie object.

Found in the city of Uruk in modern day Iraq, this stone tablet is thought to be the oldest payslip in the world. Dating back 5,300 years, the tablet is written in cuneiform, an early version of pictorial writing. It dates from a time before token money existed and essentially shows how much beer each employee is owed for their labor, making it the first record of payment yet discovered. 

One of the oldest stone structures in the world can be found in Göbekli Tepe, close to  Şanlıurfa, southern Turkey. Dating back to around 9,000 BCE, the Neolithic site is made up of a number of large circular structures supported by huge, richly decorated  stone pillars. 

As this part of the world was among the first to see humans evolve from hunter gatherers into farmers, it offers a unique insight into the dawn of modern civilisation and the lives of early man. The entire site is part of one large attraction, making this one of the oldest museums on Earth. 

Made from mammoth ivory, the Venus of Hohle Fels is the oldest undisputed example of a depiction of a human being. Dating back between 35,000 and 40,000 years, the figure is from the Upper Palaeolithic period and is one of a number of mammoth ivory artefacts discovered in the caves of the Swabian Alb region of Germany.

Learn more about ancient Cuneiform writing here.