Panpipes

Wooden panpipes

Can you imagine hearing a tune which was last heard over a thousand years ago?

This is what happened to archaeologists in York when they found a set of panpipes lost in the Viking Age. Once the pipes had been cleaned they still played five notes.

Playing the pipes

The pipes would have been a valuable musical instrument as they were made of boxwood, which was expensive. The holes which make the sounds had to be carefully bored to the right length to make the correct sound. One of the edges was broken so one note would not play properly.

Perhaps the Viking musician threw the instrument away in sorrow thinking his pipes would never be played again. But he was wrong!

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