LONG AN, VIETNAM—According to an IFL Science report, a 2,000-year-old antler found in southern Vietnam near the Mekong River may have been part of a musical instrument. Fredeliza Campos of Australian National University and her colleagues, including researchers from Long An Museum, examined more than 600 bone artifacts recovered from the region once inhabited by Vietnam’s pre-Óc Eo culture. This antler, they noticed, has a hole at one end that may have held a tuning peg, and a notched bridge that may have supported a string or strings. “This stringed instrument, or chordophone, is one of the earliest examples of this type of instrument in Southeast Asia,” Campos said. “It fills the gap between the region’s earliest known musical instruments—lithophones or stone percussion plates—and more modern instruments,” she explained. The 14-inch-long antler is thought to have come from a Sambar deer or an Indian hog deer, which are both native to Southeast Asia, Campos concluded. To read more about archaeological research into prehistoric musical instruments, go to "Artifact: Camelid Wind Instruments."
