If the bone is indeed a usable flute, it would be an argument for the existence of music 43 thousand years ago. Thus Ivan Turk has asserted that, whether the holes are "artificial" (made by man) or "natural" (punctures from a carnivore bite), origin is the "crucial question." An equally critical issue is that, if the holes in this "flute" are of artificial origin, to date there does not seem to be any available means to determine whether they were deliberately drilled 43 thousand years ago, or are of a more contemporary origin (as part of an elaborate hoax, perhaps).