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In 2018, a potential cousin to the famous lyre of Sutton Hoo was found in Kazakhstan. Upon looking at earlier, Soviet-era excavations in south-west Kazakhstan, the Kazakh archaeologist Dr. Azilkhan Tazhekeev found what he initially thought were an ancient form of the traditional Kazakh instrument kossaz, a double-necked lute. Upon returning to this site and looking again at the pieces in the site, these artefacts appeared more like the Western European, "Germanic" style of lyres from around the same time period.
They were found in the excavation of the Khorezmian Expedition, a large-scale, USSR-initiated program in Central Asia. They were found in a settlement in the Dzhetyasar territory in the Kyzylorda region, east of the Aral Sea, within the lower basin of the Syr Darya River. For context, this area was part of the Silk Roads, and Dzhetyasar is the very namesake of a culture characterized by many settlements and graves. In the 7th century, these settlements were abandoned and moved closer to the Aral Sea.
As said, these finds closely resembled lyres found in Western Europe, mostly in England and Germany. Best known is the Sutton Hoo lyre and the Trossingen lyre. These are known for their long profile with a thin body, hollow arms, and keyed tuning pegs.
Sutton Hoo lyre, original (right) and reconstruction (left) from the British Museum
Trossingen lyre from Archaeological Museum of Baden-Württemberg
The finds were unequally preserved. Of the better-preserved one, only about two-thirds of the sound box survives, in addition to one of the arms, a fragment of the second arm (both appear to be hollow), and a crossbar that apparently connected the two arms. The overall length of the object appears to be 0.655 meters, making it the smallest in this potential family of lyres, but only marginally. The construction of the yoke, or crossbar, and strings remain unknown.
This find brings up several new questions about the culture of musical instruments as a whole around this period. Was this piece a product of cultural exchange across the Silk Roads, furthering our understanding of how far cultural exchange spreads? Was it just a simple design common across cultures that broadens this type of instrument as a "Pan-Eurasian" style of lyre akin to drums or flutes? Did it develop out of convergent evolution? Hopefully more research will be done on the finds and the site as a whole. Also, hopefully someone creates a reconstruction replica that can lead to even more research as well as potentially revive what beauty could have sounded from it.
Here is the link to the original article about this lyre and the site as a whole. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/sutton-hoo-lyre-and-the-music-of-the-silk-road-a-new-find-of-the-fourth-century-ad-reveals-the-germanic-lyres-missing-eastern-connections/C35D4310FE10FF85F0DD3AD4C077B6D7#articleLinks to an external site.
To hear what the Sutton Hoo lyre as well as what other lyres in the "family" could have sounded like, check out this reconstruction made by Michael J. King as well as other reconstructions of lyres he has made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weuz-RtmBfk
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