Possible Iron-Age Musical Instrument Recovered in Scotland

News February 6, 2019

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FEARNAN, SCOTLAND—The Courier reports that a notched wooden object, thought to be the bridge of a plucked string instrument, has been recovered from the waters of central Scotland’s Loch Tay. The object has been dated to 500 B.C. and is believed to be one of the earliest music instruments found in Western Europe. The instrument is likely to have been made by people who lived in a crannog, or fortified dwelling, on the shores of the loch. To read about the excavation of a crannog in Northern Ireland, go to “Saving Northern Ireland's Noble Bog.”

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