Trumpets and drums were the only known musical instruments in the Oxus civilization, which developed during the 3rd millennium in Margiana and Bactria, in an area between present-day Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The most beautiful trumpets have a swelling decorated with a human head. The male head decorating the bulb of this trumpet is so strikingly realistic that it can be regarded as a portrait.
The expression “musical instruments” is probably not quite accurate for these trumpets, because they seem to have been used more for the range of their sound than to make music. But it has now been shown that they did produce sounds and were not just miniature models of larger horns. The frequencies of the sounds produced are similar to the call made by the females of some species of deer during the mating season. The trumpets could have been lures used by deerstalkers lying in wait for their quarry. A similar silver trumpet is to be found in the collections of the Louvre Museum.”
