In addition, Aksenty published the sound tracks from the video. They consist of improvisations with different instruments, like the jew’s harps, lyre, gusli, hardingfele and rebec. Download here: Aksenty.ru/novgorod2019.zip (seven tracks with a total length of 10:46).

Thank you Aksenty for a professional and top produced video!

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Besides technology, the article discusses classification (including the old debate whether the instrument ‘is’ an aerophone or an idiophone) and chronology, as well the relation between them. In other words: Is there really a chronological, historical line between idioglot and heteroglot jew’s harps, as the German musicologist Curt Sachs suggested? And what about the geographical spreading from east (Asia) to west (Europe), also proposed by Sachs?

In the article, my aim has not been to resolve these blurred issues, but to approach them and ask new questions, open-mindedly. The abstract reads as follows:

‘In the classification of musical instruments, the place of the jew’s harp has for a long time been disputed. This is a complex, diverse and anomalous musical instrument, technologically and culturally. The variety of shapes and materials within its original distribution area, Eurasia, raises questions about the nature and early history of the jew’s harp. How can we understand the connection between the various forms, and their chronological significance? How do earlier theories match modern archaeological research? These questions concern both organology and archaeology.’

The article is published in R. Eichmann, J. Fang and L.-C. Koch (eds.) 2016: Studien zur Musikarchäologie X. Leidorf, Rahden/Westf.: 63–73, and can be read here (pdf).

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The jew’s harps are from excavations in the northern part of the country, in the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Hebei. The oldest finds are from Xiajiadian culture, which are dated between 1200 and 600 BC, making them by far the oldest jew’s harps we know about. Until now, Chinese archaeologists and music archaeologists have not given much attention to these findings, and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to study them and place them in a larger context, culturally and organologically.

These jew’s harps are made of bone, and their tongue is cut out of a flat piece of material. Similar jew’s harps are found today in large parts of Asia, and are usually made of bamboo or metal. One example is from the Yunnan Province in southern China, where they play on small mouth harps (Kou Xian) of brass. The musician play on up to five pieces simultaneously. They are connected in the form of a fan. One of the great performers on this jew’s harp type is Ma Guo Guo, who you can hear on this YouTube video.

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During a period of about ten years I worked with jew’s harps from archaeological contexts. The external supervisor for my MA thesis, the Swedish music archaeologist Cajsa S. Lund, advised me to focus on this topic. Up to then (mid-ninetieths) this had been a fragmented area of research. My MA thesis considered Scandinavian material.

In 1997 I got a scholarship from The Norwegian Research Council to investigate the archaeology of the jew’s harp in entire Europe. For several years I collected and analysed materials from several parts of Europe. The research resulted in the doctoral thesis Jew’s Harps in European Archaeology (University of Oslo, 2004). It was revised and published in 2006 by Archaeopress, Oxford (BAR International Series 1500). The book can be ordered from Archaeopress.

The thesis, documents and analyses jew’s harps from archaeological excavations in Europe. The material represents several centuries of jew’s harp history; most of the finds are dated to the period 1200–1700 AD. The work chiefly focuses on technology, typology and chronology, and does not consider playing technique, acoustics or non-European materials. Here is a summary of the thesis:

Jew’s Harps in European Archaeology is a contribution to the research area music archaeology, which lies in the intersection between musicology and archaeology. A catalogue with records of 830 individual jew’s harps from archaeological contexts form the material basis of the thesis. The objects are collected from various museums and archaeological institutions in Europe. The United Kingdom (173 specimens), Switzerland (137) and Sweden (118) account for the largest numbers of jew’s harps found in the earth, followed by the Netherlands, Germany and France. The material dates to the late medieval and post-medieval period. Some vague sources from various European countries suggest that the Romans, Saxons and Vikings knew the instrument. This thesis concludes, however, that the oldest specimens found in datable contexts are from around 1200 AD. In the 14th and 15th centuries the instrument became very popular, with a very wide geographical distribution. The manufacture had the character of mass production. The popularity was accompanied by a variety of forms. An important part of the thesis focuses on technology and typology, seeking to find some order behind the morphological diversity. Among the results, the analyses demonstrates that there was a typological development from jew’s harps with small bows and long arms towards instruments with large open bows and short arms. Various iconographical and written sources suggest that the jew’s harp predominated in the lower social strata. Depictions of the instrument from the 15th century and later show that its place was among travelling pedlars, minstrels and jugglers, as well as fools and beggars. It is not included among the instruments of professional minstrels. As many as 275 specimens, or one third of the material, were found in castles. It is very likely that these instruments belonged to soldiers, who played the jew’s harp in their spare time. Since this was the great period for mercenaries in Europe, the soldiers probably had the instruments with them on their postings. Characteristically, the Italian name of the instrument is Scacciapensieri, meaning the dispeller of thoughts or worries.

A more thorough article about the work (not specifically about the thesis) was published in the Journal of the International Jew’s Harp Society (no. 1, 2004, pp. 79–85). The article is available here (pdf).

You can also download the introductory chapter of the thesis (pdf).

Here is a chart from the thesis that illustrates typological variation and movement in the material (fig. 3.16, p. 54 in Jew’s Harps in European Archaeology, BAR International Series 1500, Archaeopress, Oxford):

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