6,700-Year-Old Shell Trumpets Were Prehistoric Communication Tools, Study Suggests

If someone hands you a large, spiral seashell, chances are that your instinct will drive you to hold it up to your ear. Thousands of years ago, however, prehistoric communities in modern-day Spain raised them to their lips.

In a study published today in the journal Antiquity, researchers experimented with archaeological artifacts in a special way—by using them directly. They studied and tested conch shell trumpets from Neolithic (around 7000 to 1700 BCE) sites in Catalonia, Spain….