ARCHAEOLOGY:
Archaeologists digging in an area near Cronulla south of Sydney have unearthed evidence that rewrites the history of a musical instrument previously thought to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia.
Head of the excavation team from the antiquities department of the University of NSW, Professor Cleo Pattra, said a fragment of a fresco estimated to date from around 3000 BC or earlier was believed to be the first image of a stringed instrument now known as a lyre. (main picture)
“We previously thought the lyre was first seen in Mesopotamia in around 2700 BC, but this find considerably predates that,” Professor Pattra said.
“We have much more work to do on this find. For instance, it’s still a mystery why the fresco fragment was found where it was instead of somewhere around the Mediterranean. Could it have been brought here by boat people?
“One thing we do know already from some of the hieroglyphics found on the fresco is that the person pictured in it gave his name to the instrument as we know it today.
“Other hieroglyphics are believed to be comments attributed to the person pictured in the fresco. They were first translated as ‘How good is lying?’.
“Some of our translators thought he might be saying ‘How good is lyreing?’. But we’ve had it double checked and the original translation is accurate,” Professor Pattra said.
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