Some Evidence of Musical Instruments in Bronze

Age Caucasus
Karine Kushnareva

The invaluable heritage of the spiritual life of its

ancient people is preserved in the archaeological
monuments of the Caucasus. Since the entire ideology of the ancient people was pervaded with the
belief in spirituality and supernatural forces and
the necessity to worship various deities and spirits,
evidences of their spiritual life are present in
almost all types of the archaeological monuments.
Certainly the most informative complexes here are
burials, sanctuaries, religious articles and scenes of
various ritual events depicted on rock walls, vessels, bronze belts, etc. It is very important to
emphasize that in antiquity the Caucasus was a
part of the vast Near Eastern world, and there was
constant exchange of spiritual and material values
within its borders.
Because of its peculiarities the music and dance
cultures whose roots have been lost in the depth of
millennia, little evidence of their existence remains
in ancient material complexes. Traces can be found
in the Caucasus. Ancient musical instruments are
very rare finds in archaeological complexes, preserved in fragments only. Their reconstruction is
possible, either by means of comparative analysis
with Near Eastern materials or with pictures of
these instruments on various monuments of art.
Indications of dancing stories can also be represented in the latter.
In the early stages of human history, playing
musical instruments as well as dancing were necessary aspects of various rites and ceremonies. The
participation of music and dance ensembles in praying, festivals, burial and other religious acts is
recorded in detail in written sources of the earliest
people of the Near East (Ardzinba 1982). In fact,
musical accompaniment was typical in all areas of
work. In particular, it is known from the Hittite
written sources of the 2nd millennium BC that
priests sang incantations while searching for silver
ore (Kapantsyan 1948, 12, 128; Kushnarev 1958, 24).
The most ancient musical instrument found in
the Caucasus is the fragment of a longitudinal flute

from the mountain settlement Chokh (Amirhanov

1987, 32). The object dates back to the 6th millennium BC. The flute was made from a long bone of
a goat or sheep. The surface is polished and displays three holes at equal intervals. The remains of
another flute in poorly preserved condition were
found in one of the Samtavro burials in Georgia,
dated to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. A
scene on the bronze belts from the burial of Tli in
South Osetia belongs to the same period. It depicts
two persons at a feast, whereby one holds a flute in
his hand (Pl. I.2; Tekhov 1980, Pl. 53; Hidacheli
1982: Pl. XXXVIII. 1).
As is well known, very early musical genres
were associated with the work of herdsmen or
farmers. Ethnographical traditions point to the
fact that, in addition to calls, tunes played on the
longitudinal flute also served as means to manage a
herd (Kushnarev 1958, 30). This fragile instrument
which is still favoured by herdsmen in the Caucasus, was very popular in the Near East at that time.
However, the Chokh flute predates the flutes
found in Egypt (Sachs 1936, 106) and Babylon
(Gruber 1941, 192) from the 3rd millennium BC.
The melodies of the Caucasian herdsmen represent certain signals to the herd (call to watering,
to return home etc.). Primitive in form, they seem
to echo the ancient herdsmens tunes (Kushnarev
1958, 30). The assignment of the flute to musical
instruments of the earliest herdsmen is supported
by the aforementioned burial of a young man in
Samtavro, who was accompanied into the afterlife
with a flute. The grave has even been referred to as
the burial of the herdsman. It stems from the
period when the occupation of the deceased was
indicated by placing objects attributable to his/her
work in the grave.
Judging from the archaeological evidences, the
flute was not the only a musical instrument of the
old Caucasian nations. A unique find was recently
made in the royal grave of the young woman
near Maikop in the northern Caucasus (Pl. I.1;

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Karine Kushnareva

Rezepkin 1990; 1997; Stash 1997). The womans

high social rank was emphasised by both the
complicated arrangement of the tomb and the
spectrum of the unique inventory, which included
remains of a seven-stringed instrument like a harp.
The fragments represent the wooden sound box
which could be reconstructed after restoration.
This grave is typical of the Maikop culture which
formed in the northern Caucasus during the
4th3rd millennium BC under the influence of
people immigrating into the region from the Near
East. The closest analogies for this instrument are
lyres and harps from the royal tombs of the first
dynasty in Ur (Rashid 1984, Taf. 1-10). Certainly,
the instruments are symbols of wealth and nobility
for the persons buried with royal honour in Ur
and Maikop. In the 3rd 2nd millennium BC different types of lyres and harps existed in all countries
of the Near East and the Mediterranean (Widstrand 1996). The tradition of playing them continued, although finds such as the example in
Maikop are unknown in the Caucasus. Taking the
depiction of female lyre players in rock engravings
found in the Negev as an analogy (Pl. II. 1; Istoriya Drevnego Vostoka 1988, fig. 73 b), an object
held in the hands of a dancer in the rock engraving
of the 3rd millennium BC in the Gegam Mountains
(Armenia) may be conditionally designated as a
lyre (?) or harp (?) (Pl II.2; Martirosyan 1981, 74,
2). The engraving depicts a ritual dance around a
sacrificed animal which was performed under the
patronage of an anthropomorphic deity with
uplifted ray-like hands. Pagan deities were often
depicted in this manner in the mountains of Armenia. The tradition of playing harps still exists in the
Caucasus, for instance in the nations of Georgia,
Abkhazia, Osetia, and Adygejan.
Another royal grave decorated in barbarian
glamour from the Armenian burial mound of
Karashamb was recently investigated. The set of
articles found there is characteristic of the archaeological Trialeti culture (late 3rd early 2nd millennium BC). Among the jewellery, the silver goblet,
a masterpiece of ancient Caucasian facing, is of
special interest (Pl. III; Oganesyan 1988;
Kushnareva 1993; 45 A,B). The semantic analysis
of relief compositions in the goblets friezes is
united in one and the same epic story, founded on
a mythological basis. The composition expresses
many realities of those times, which, as a rule, have
not been preserved in archaeological complexes.
The scene of a ritual feast is in the centre of the
frieze. A group of several figures is shown, headed
by the king sitting at a table and being served a
meal. Servants wait nearby. Behind the king are
two men with fans, and in turn behind them is a
figure playing the lyre. The clear outline of the

lyre and the realistic details reveal the form of a

resonance box and a body with seven strings. In
general, the scene represents a celebration of
victory over conquered enemies.
The structure of the lyre is similar to wellknown examples of this instrument shown in art
monuments of the Near East and the Mediterranean and even Europe (Widstrand 1996, fig. 2;
Alvarez 19891990, fig. 1, 2). The Karashamb find
documents the practice of lyre-playing in the Caucasus in the 3rd 2nd millennium BC and confirms
the ancient sources referrals to the use of the
instrument on special events. Musical accompaniment was necessary, in particular, for Hittite festival and burial rites (Ardzinba 1982).
It is important to point out that the figures of
the king and the lyre-player (a woman?) are larger than the other persons. Did the artist want to
emphasise the great significance of musicians who
were considered as the most precious trophies in
the wars between ancient oriental rulers
(Kushnarev 1958, 25)? In this context we should
also mention the bronze figure of a musician from
the Kazbek treasure, dated to the middle of the 1st
millennium BC (Pl. IV.1; Tallgren 1930, fig. 2324).
Among the Caucasian archaeological finds of
the Bronze Age we often encounter so-called idiophones: sonorous pendant-like articles in the form
of bells, birds and different animals. They mainly
accompany complexes of a cultic nature, such as
tombs, graves, sanctuaries etc. They appear quite
frequently, in particular in the Shilda sanctuary in
Georgia (Pizchelauri 1984, Pl 30, 33, 35; Pl. V ),
and in the graves of Lori-Berd in Armenia
(Devedzhyan, Pl VI). Special attention is drawn
by the finds from the Stepantsminda treasure
where the bells are part of a composition headed
by the phallic-type male figure with a club in his
hand and standing on deer horns (Tallgren, fig.
1213). The latter might be identified with the
Hittite deity of storm, Teshub, and finds a parallel
in rock engravings in the Caucasus (Martirosyan
1981, 54). It is clear from the above that the idiophones have polysemantic meaning. Present Caucasian ethnography has determined the designation of some idiophones: they served as a guard
against the evil spirits of animals and human
beings, as alarm signals, as announcers of the start
of various meetings and of the arrival of important
persons, etc.
An inexhaustible amount of material for our
topic is supplied by rock engravings. Born in the
ideology of ancient tribes, these art monuments
were created for the millennia, often in the same
sanctuaries in open spaces. Appearing spontaneously in different parts of the world, rock pic-

Some Evidences of Musical Instruments in Bronze Age Caucasus

tures, nevertheless, have similar features which are

reflecting in their subjects the changing spiritual
world of human societies and its close ties with
their historical developments. In the Caucasus
these monuments are present within several delimited groups, in the mountains of Dagestan, in the
Gegam and Syunik Mountains (Armenia), and in
Gobustan and Absheron (Azerbaijan).
The subjects depicted on the rocks vary, but
not all of them can be decoded/deciphered semantically. One rare exception, in particular, is represented in four pictures engraved by an ancient
artist on the stone walls inside a sanctuary on the
Absheron peninsula (Aliev 1996; PL. I, 2). The
pictures are united by one and the same theme,
based on the well-known ancient oriental myth
about the goddess of love and fertility Inanna and
Dumuzi. Here the first act, the ceremony of the
holy wedding, headed by Inanna, is of particular
interest. It is known from written sources that this
ceremony was performed every year, that it was
associated with the idea of the revival of nature,
and that it was accompanied with orgiastic mysteries. This is reflected in the depictions of pairs making love at the sound of a percussion instrument in
the form of a rattle. In the first, a musician is
shown standing next to the goddess and shaking a
rattle of ovoid form with a handle. The following
three pictures continue with the original subject.
A slightly different version of the ritual festival
is represented on a richly decorated vase with
relief figures from the Inandk complex in Asia
Minor (Pl. VI; zg 1988; see also Schuol, Fig. 3
a/b, this publication). Here the action of sexual
intercourse takes place with the accompaniment of
musicians beating a tambourine and playing harps
and lutes. The figures of musicians are shown
repeatedly. Acrobats turning somersaults in the air
also partake in the activities. Judging from the
rock pictures, similar rituals took place during festivals in the Caucasus. For instance, rock engravings in the Gegam and Syunik mountains depict
acrobats per-forming complicated exercises, such
as rope-walkers, gymnasts with posts, trapeze
artists (Karakhanyan/Safyan 1970, Pl. 85 2, 115 1;
Martirosyan 1981, Pl. 54, 74, 75). Thus, it becomes
clear that ancient Oriental myths were wellknown to the Caucasian people. On the basis of
the above subjects the closeness in ideological

105

notions of the ancient people of the Caucasus and

the Near East gradually becomes obvious. This
close association is clearly seen in many monuments of material culture.
Finally, the last subject we would like to note is
mass prayings, which was probably accompanied
by singing, as well as dancing subjects shown in
rock engravings. There is a great amount of interesting material here.
A picturesque panel from the mountain sanctuary of Kharitani in Daghestan belongs to the earliest one (Kotovich 1976, fig. 26). Like the flute
from neighbouring Chokh, the scene dates back to
the early 6th millennium BC. Here we can see a
mass of people praying for a specific reason to the
goddess of fertility, perhaps to the same Inanna.
The majority of those praying are women who
were linked more closely to agriculture, which had
only begun at that time. The second subject is the
mass praying of men who are moving (or dancing?) with their hands up-lifted. As is seen in the
picture, the action takes place in the course of
hunting or in favour of hunting fortune. It may be
indirect evidence of the archaic nature of a scene
on one of the Beyukdash rocks in Gobustan
(Dzafarzade 1973, the Beyukdash stone No. 24). A
series of dancing scenes likewise from Gobustan is
also of interest. They present circle dances with
males and females as well as dances of women with
children (Dzafarzade 1973, the Beyukdash stones
No. 9, 46, 67, 86). Circle dances with males predominate. They are well-known in ancient monuments in the Central Asia (Dugarov 1990, 145) and
still exist in the Caucasus. Let us recall, for
instance, the male circle dance of herdsmen called
Kochari, which is usually accompanied by a
tambourine and danced at various Armenian festivals. Among the many depictions of mass dances,
the subject in the background of a bronze belt
from Mzkhet is unique. It shows two disguised
ghosts, who dance under the patronage of the
sun (Pl. IV.2; Hidacheli 1982, fig. 27 a).
In summary, the archaeological monuments in
the Caucasus contain a wealth of information
about the musical and dance cultures of the ancient
inhabitants of a region in which life was closely
connected with that of the people in the Near East.
In the earliest period of time the Caucasus was an
organic part of this immense cultural world.

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ZG, T. (1988)
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Plate I

1 Remnants of the harp from the Maikop buriel mound; 2 Scene of the feast on the bronze belt from the grave of Tli.

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Plate II

1 Picture of the women-harpists on the rock pictures in the Negev;

2 Ritual dance on the rock picture in the Gegam Mountains.

Some Evidences of Musical Instruments in Bronze Age Caucasus

Plate III

Silver goblet from the settlement of Karashamb with a complicated composition of the epic subject.

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Plate IV

1 Bronze figure of the harpist from the Kazbek treasure; 2 Picture of the pair dance on the bronze belt from Mzkhet.

Some Evidences of Musical Instruments in Bronze Age Caucasus

Plate V

Bronze Age Pendants.

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Plate VI

Vase with the ritual scene from the complex of Inandktepe.