Potential Instruments
The bone pipes so far displayed are fairly certainly intended as sound devices, even if some may have been discarded before making sound . However, there are other finds which are a lot more uncertain as to whether they were used for sound production.
Date: Anglo-Saxon
Bone: Bird Ulna (Wing Bone)
Location Found: Southampton
Type of Site: Urban
Found in Hamwih (Southampton), this cylindrical piece of bone pipe, categorised as of unknown use, could conceivably have been used as an end-blown flute, or perhaps as a tube from a set of panpipes held together with a material such as animal tendon. While none of these uses are currently proved, it shows the possibilities and how some of the finds previously uncategorised may in fact be instruments.
Can you think of other objects, either from the Anglo-Saxon period or modern day, which can create sound but may at first not seem like that or something which produces sound but is not made as a sound producing device?
To continue exploring the wind instruments, click here.