In 2009, a University of Tübingen team led by Nicholas Conard reported in Nature a flute carved from a griffon vulture's wing bone, found at Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany and dated to roughly 35,000–40,000 years old. A 2012 re-dating of flute fragments from the nearby Geissenklösterle cave pushed the tradition back even further, to as much as 42,000–43,000 years ago. The research team argued that music likely helped maintain social bonds within larger groups, and may be one reason modern humans were able to spread across a wider range than Neanderthals. In Greek myth, the god Pan pursued the nymph Syrinx until she transformed into reeds, which he cut to make the first pan flute; the Chinese classic Book of Rites states, 'Music is the harmony of heaven and earth,' treating music not as mere entertainment but as a tool for tuning the order of the world. What seemed unnecessary for survival turned out to be one more strategy for it — bonding a group together.