The Sutton Hoo lyre and the music of the Silk Road: a new find of the fourth century AD reveals the Germanic lyre's missing eastern connections

Abstract

A recent re-examination of finds from Soviet-era excavations in Dzhetyasar, Kazakhstan, has identified the remains of two wooden objects as stringed instruments. Dating to the fourth century AD, one bears a strikingly close resemblance to lyre finds from Western Europe, including the instrument from Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo: the Sutton Hoo lyre.