Tehran – The Iranian National Museum, in collaboration with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, has begun to create a series of short videos to introduce its artifacts to the public.
One of the most notable artifacts that trace Iranian music history to nearly eight,000 years is the bone flute discovered in the 1970s during an archaeological excavation at San Echahmachmound near Shalud, northeastern Iran.
Speaking to the Tehran Times, Fereidon Biggrali, deputy director of the Iranian National Museum, said the flute is made from large migratory bird bones and features four main holes and one hole near its edge.
Big Lari, who introduced the artifact in a museum video, noted that the stone tools were used to break down long bones into flutes, and the cutting marks still appear on the surface of the instrument. He added that with the help of musicians, an effort is underway to reconstruct a replica of this instrument from bones, allowing the sound it produced to be reproduced.
According to Biglari, bone flutes found at Neolithic sites in Asia and other continents may have served multiple cultural and social purposes among early communities. These flutes may be used in rituals and rituals and for communication with supernatural, important events or those that accompany co-dance. Furthermore, they could have played a role in hunting and flocking by mimicking the sounds of animals and signaling them across distances. The production and use of bone flute suggests the development of early musical traditions that reflect the importance of sound and rhythm in Neolithic society.
The Sang-e Chakhmaq mound consists of two mounds, the East and the West, with bone instruments found on the East mound. Sang-e Chakhmaq (Tepe Sang-i Chaxmaq, meaning “Flint Mound”) is a Neolithic archaeological site that provides uninterrupted cultural sequences from the 7th BC to the early 5th centuries. The site consists of two mounds, the West and East, documenting the transition from the pre-Potty Neolithic period to the early Calcolithic period. The West Mound revealed an aceramic Neolithic settlement with mud brick houses, fireplaces and flint tools, while the East Mound showed a later ceramic stage that includes clay and stone figurines, Turkmenistan’s djeitun culture and pottery similar to the Iranian sialk I and II styles. The upper layers of this site also created an architectural shift towards early copper objects and rectangular mud brick structures, indicating the transition to the Calcolithic life system.
As one of the few sites with a complete Neolithic sequence in northeastern Iran, Sang-e Chakhmaq provides important evidence to understand the prevalence of agriculture, pottery and early metallurgy in the region. Its material culture shows ties between both Central Asia and central Iran, suggesting a cultural crossroads. Several objects found on this site are exhibited in the Neolithic gallery of the Iranbastan Museum, the National Museum of Iran.
Over the past few months, some of the videos cited have been shared on the museum’s Instagram and Aparat pages.
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