What is the oldest brass instrument?

Perhaps surprisingly, conch shells and animal horns are considered some of the oldest brass instruments. Although made of natural materials, these early instruments were played by vibrating the lips to send air into and through a hollow opening—the defining characteristic of a brass instrument. Sound in modern brass instruments, such as French horns, trombones, and trumpets, is produced when the player vibrates their lips against a metal mouthpiece, moving air through the instrument’s tubing.

Natural wind instruments such as conch shells are capable of creating powerful sounds. Although limited in pitch, their often booming, penetrating sound served crucial roles in early human communication and culture, particularly for signaling across long distances and for ceremonies and other rituals. The first metal brass instrument was likely the trumpet, specifically the trumpets of Egyptian king Tutankhamun, which were discovered in his tomb in the early 1920s and thus date to at least 1323 bce. Simple in shape, being straight, these trumpets have remarkable embellishments depicting Egyptian gods and hieroglyphs.

Not much later, the lur appeared. This long, curved bronze horn was discovered in prehistoric Scandinavian excavations, dating to the Late Bronze Age, roughly 1000–500 bce. Lurs feature a conical bore and a bent S-shape. They are about 5–8 feet (1.5–2.5 meters) in length, with an embossed metal disk at the end. They typically have been found in pairs, particularly in Denmark.