CANADA: An archaeologist has 3D-printed a replica of an iron-age artifact that may help revive a rich musical culture that existed in ancient Ireland.
Billy O Foghlu, from Australian National University College of Asia-Pacific, said the artifact may have been a mouthpiece from an iron-age horn and not a spearbutt as previously thought.
When he used the replica artifact as a mouthpiece, the ancient Irish horn had a richer, more velvety tone.
“Suddenly the instrument came to life,” said O Foghlu.
“These horns were not just hunting horns or noisemakers. They were very carefully constructed and repaired, they were played for hours. Music clearly had a very significant role in the culture,” he said.
Complex bronze-age and iron-age horns have been found throughout Europe, especially in Scandinavia. However, the lack of mouthpieces in Ireland suggested the Irish music scene had drifted into a musical dark age.
O Foghlu was convinced mouthpieces had existed in Ireland, and was intrigued by the so-called Conical Spearbutt of Navan.
He could not gain access to the original bronze artifact, so he used the exact measurements to produce a replica using 3D-printing and try it out with his own horn.
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