Simon Thorne's music consistently challenges structures and norms. From dark, noisy Zappa inspired operas to serene Baroque chamber music to Miles Davis influenced be-bop, he has explored a variety of genres. Now he has tried to recreate the kind of music which he thinks the Neanderthals might have played.
Thorne also suggests that Neanderthals might be responsible for the beginnings of music.
Neanderthal man existed side by side with early homo sapiens before becoming extinct some 30,000 years ago.
"Given that Neanderthal man's brain was about the same size as ours, and much of our brain is given over to language, you can assume they probably had language too," Thorne told BBC News.
Thorne's 75-minute composition was commissioned by National Museum Wales to provide a musical illustration for the palaeolithic section of its exhibition Origins of Human Life. "Thorne's work is a fantastic go at evoking our prehistory," said anthropologist Steven Mithen, an authority on Neanderthals.
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