Archaeologists found a pair of rare copper-alloy Bronze Age cymbals at a site in Dahwa, Oman, dating back to the third millennium BCE. According to Fox News, the find reveals shared musical traditions that connected cultures and supported trade across the Arabian Gulf.
"These copper alloy cymbals are the first of their kind to have been found in good archaeological contexts in Oman and are from a particularly early context that questions some of the assumptions on their origin and development," said Professor Khaled Douglas from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, according to Fox News.
The cymbals were discovered during an excavation of an ancient building in 2018. Over the millennia of being buried in the ground, the cymbals became corroded together. "When trying to separate the pair, two small fragments detached from one of the sides; one of these was submitted for chemical analysis using portable x-ray fluorescence," the study said. Isotopic analysis revealed that the copper used in the cymbals came from the Sultanate of Oman, indicating local production.
The cymbals resemble a style made by cultures from the Indus Valley and are found from as early as the third millennium BCE in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, with Levantine examples appearing from the second millennium BCE onward. Their discovery suggests that cross-cultural connections were not solely based on trade, as they indicate that these links extended beyond commerce. Cultural exchanges, including musical traditions and practices, likely flowed between the Arabian Peninsula and the Indus Valley alongside traded goods, enhancing social ties between the two regions.
"The Early Bronze Age Umm an-Nar period has already provided rich evidence of interregional contact, but the precise nature of these connections remains an open question," stated Professor Nasser Al-Jahwari, co-author of the research from Sultan Qaboos University.
Musical instruments are typically crafted from perishable materials such as wood and metals, which rarely survive over time, posing challenges in studying the influence of music on ancient cultures. The examination of the cymbals sheds light on a shared musical tradition that connected cultures across the Arabian Gulf. The study noted that "over the millennia of being buried in the ground, the cymbals became corroded together," and neither cymbal appears to have surface damage, which "supported the idea of a deliberate and careful deposition."
The cymbals are identical in size, both being circular with an outer diameter of 138 mm and an embossed middle that is 17 mm deep and 76 mm in diameter, perforated by a 4.2 mm-diameter hole. The walls of the cymbals are thin, with a thickness of 1.5–2 mm, increasing slightly at the edges where it reaches 3 mm.
Trade around the Arabian Gulf between different cultural groups during the Bronze Age is well attested in the form of ceramics, beads, and other objects, reinforcing social bonds between the Arabian Peninsula and the Indus Valley. However, most interpretations so far have focused on trade, largely neglecting the deep social and cultural meanings of these exchanges. The discovery of the Dahwa cymbals supports the idea that, as early as the late third millennium BCE, music, chanting, and communal dancing were central to fostering contact between different communities in this region.
"The potentially multifaceted role of music in the social and ritual lives of Bronze Age communities remains a question for future research," concluded the researchers. The findings of the research were published in the journal Antiquity.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
