Anasazi Flute created by Vance Pennington of Waking Spirit Flutes

Anasazi

The original Native American flute!

The Anasazi flute is thought to be the earliest Native American flute ever discovered and was created from box elder. The Anasazi
style flute shown in the above photo was created by Vance Pennington, of Waking Spirit Flutes, using indigenous box elder.

The instrument of the Ancient Poeblans - The Anasazi flute.

Nothing was known of the Anasazi flute until Earl H. Morris (Carnegie Institution of Washington D.C.) led an expedition of archeologists to the Prayer Rock district of Northeastern Arizona where, during excavations in a small cave, they stumbled upon some wooden flutes that are believed to have been created between 620 and 670 A.D. These flutes were created by the Ancient Poeblans, otherwise known as the Anasazi people.

This instrument, being the earliest known Native American flute, was played by blowing across a small, flattened notch at the end of the flute body that was open at both ends. The chin was utilized to close the notched end when played, using different mouth and lips formations to achieve various notes, octaves and harmonics.

The flutes found in the cave, now known as the Broken Flute Cave, where created from Box Elder and were decorated with Yucca fibres woven into a chord, bird's skin and feathers.

Although the Anasazi flute is a difficult instrument to play various techniques can be mastered with reasonable practice and once mastered it is probably the most versatile and provoking instrument of its kind.

In the hands of a renowned World Flutes player (Gary Stroutsos) the Anasazi flute
can be played utilizing its three plus octave capability. The flute shown here was created
from box elder by Vance Pennington and is being played during Gary's performance at the
2007 Stormy Weather venue held in Oregon.

The Anasazi people (more correctly known as Ancient Poeblans) decorated their flutes with local bird feathers and skin
that were bound onto the flute with twine made from the Yucca plant. Considered to be a significantly religious embellishment
the above flute shows a decoration created from colorful feathers and hemp twine and is not intended to represent the original.

Flute maker Vance Pennington with renowned world flute player Gary Stroutsos putting two Anasazi flutes through their
paces before Gary's performance at the Stormy Weather Concert at Cannon Beach, Oregon
on a wet and chilly day in October, 2007.

This photo clearly shows the beautiful coloring and grain pattern of Box elder.
(Grain pattern and color will vary from flute to flute.)

Click here for Anasazi Flute Sound Clip

Important: The offsetting of the fingering holes allows for easier playing of this style of instrument and have been designed for RIGHT handed players using the right hand to cover the lower fingering holes. Please select
LEFT HANDED in the drop-down menu below if you prefer your flute tobe created for left handed use.

$250.00 plus Shipping & Insurance.

Available in Anasazi tuning (Low G#)