Listen as a 17,000-year-old conch shell is played once more – video

After laying silent for more than 17,000 years, an ancient instrument Is heard again - a deep, plaintive bleat, like a foghorn from the distant past. When archaeologists realised that a large conch shell discovered in the Marsoulas cave in the Pyrenees had been modified thousands of years ago to serve as a wind instrument, they invited a French horn player to play the conch in a sound studio. The horn produced clear C, C-sharp, and D notes.

• Conch shell in French museum found to be 17,000-year-old wind instrument