It Was A Musical,

magical moment,

 back in 2008, archaeologists discovered a set of rounded stones in the high desert near the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, they thought that the stone tools were used to grind nuts and seeds - but intriguingly, the stones didn't have the right grinding marks, Longmont archaeologist Marilyn Martorano didn’t buy that theory, Martorano came close to giving up on her investigation, She spent years examining the rocks — one of which has been dated as at least 5,000 years old — without finding a good theory for their use, a day before she was due to pack up the stones and return them to the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve (the stones are part of their museum collection, but not on display), a friend passed along an online video, it was her light bulb moment,

fast forward a decade, when archaeologist Marilyn Martorano identified them as something else completely ... they're actually musical instruments! Brad Turner of Colorado Public Radio has the story, 'the stones were clearly shaped by human hands but didn’t have the right wear marks around the edges to indicate they’d been used for grinding', so she set out to find a better explanation, about a decade later, Martorano believes she’s identified some of the earliest musical instruments ever played in Colorado, “You really have to hear them,” said Martorano, who grew up in the San Luis Valley where the dunes sit. “That’s when you believe it.” talk about thinking outside of the box!