A musical instrument in the form of a lance with an iron tip for percussion has been heard for the first time since it was discovered in the tomb of a musician buried in 300BC.
The tomb was opened during an archaeological dig in 2002 in the village of Avicenne (Seine-Saint-Denis), north-east of Paris, before ground works started on a new hospital for Bobigny commune.
Preventative archaeological digs are now required before most major building projects in France, with departmental teams sent out to make sure no ancient treasures or sites of interest are accidently destroyed.
Read more: Archaeologist's message from 200 years ago found in France
Avicenne Celtic graveyard
To their surprise, the archaeologists at Avicenne found a Celtic graveyard of around 100 tombs.
One, in particular, stood out because of the objects buried with the body – something the Celts usually only did for high-ranking people.
Instead of gold and silver jewellery or decorated weapons, however, these objects were made of iron.
“It took some time but eventually it became clear that the objects were musical instruments and the main iron find was the head of a lance, used as a percussion instrument,” Julian Cuvilliez, director of a company called Priae, specialising in musical archaeology, told The Connexion.
“The metal part was fixed into a wooden lance handle and struck on the floor and the wall, giving a vibrating metal sound.
“We are certain that this tomb is that of the oldest known Celtic musician – there was also what we think was a circular iron frame suitable for a tambourine or a drum in the tomb, put under the head.
“With the lance and the tambourine he would have been able to produce music and probably act out battle scenes, using the tambourine to represent a shield.”
Also found in the tomb were copper alloy plates, which were probably hung with cords and struck like cymbals.
Mr Cuvilliez and his partner, musicologist Audrey Lecorgne, founded Priae to indulge their passion for ancient music.
The company was chosen by the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, which is studying the finds, to try and recreate the lance – the original is too fragile and precious to be played.
“I am fairly sure that the instrument I made, after we made a digital copy of the original object, is as it would have been when it was played all those years ago,” said Mr Cuvilliez.
“It’s a special feeling when we use it to make music.”
This summer he, Ms Lecorgne and other musical historians put on a series of concerts with a group called Antika Arkana in Brittany, playing music he had composed.
“Of course we don’t know what the music would have sounded like all those years ago, or in what context it was played,” he said.
“The Celts left no writing behind, but we do know the language used then was close to modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic.”
He added that it was likely the music would have been played by druids and bards during ceremonies, which would explain why the man buried in the tomb was given such high status.
Mr Cuvilliez is also well known for his work recreating Celtic lyres and harps, including a copy of the lyre represented in an ancient stone bust, thought to date from 50BC, found at Paule in Brittany.
Read more: Has tomb of French poet Joachim du Bellay been found 500 years on?
Oldest stringed instrument in France
The Buste de Bard is the oldest known representation of a stringed instrument found in France.
Mr Cuvilliez and Ms Lecorgne made a three-dimensional digital representation of the lyre to help create the physical instrument, which was also played this summer.
He learnt his skills on a 10-year ‘tour de France’, a French tradition where artisans move around the country doing apprenticeships with masters of their trade, especially those relating to the nation’s heritage.
“I started out as a blacksmith, working in a number of forges, but as my interest in ancient music grew I also included bronze casting, wood work and luthiers in my tour,” he said.
“Along the way I managed to also study music and archaeology at university.”
Other projects have included recreating trumpets found in other Celtic sites. Trumpets were used by both the Celts and Romans for ceremonial occasions and on the battlefield.
Present work includes a project on the music of the Maya civilisation in Mexico, which will involve playing copies of old instruments at Maya sites.
“It’s like Gregorian chants in Europe – if you hear them sung in a market square they sound nothing like they sound in an ancient church or abbey,” said Mr Cuvilliez.
“We want to play the instruments at the sites we think they were played all those years before.”
