Early Bronze Age
Wicklow pipes
In the winter of 2003 a number of wooden tubes or pipes were uncovered during a rescue archaeological dig at Charlesland, Co. Wicklow near the East coast of Ireland. In December 2003 the pipes were formally identified by 
Prehistoric Music Ireland as parts of a wind instrument and named ‘The Wicklow Pipes’. Subsequently Dr. Peter Holmes was invited by Prehistoric Music Ireland and The International Study Group of Music Archaeology to present a study paper of the pipes at their world conference in September 2004. A carbon dating test was performed on the pipes and the result being 4170 + or – 30 placed them at the transition from the Stone Age into the Early Bronze Age. Dr. Holmes presented the paper to great acclaim at the conference and an experimental reproduction of the originals was played successfully. They were blown briefly by Pat Kenny for the first time in public on the live television chat show called The Late Late Show in December 2004. In early 2005 the first composition for Wicklow pipes, double bass and marimba by Michael Holohan was performed as part of a concert in Drogheda, Co. Louth. The great age of these pipes and the undoubted complexity of the design and manufacturing involved, place them in the forefront of recent music archaeological finds and there is no doubt that further research will reveal a great deal more about them and the people who played them.
Middle to Late Bronze Age Instruments
Bronze Horns
By far the largest collection or family of prehistoric metal wind instruments is that of the Bronze Age horns of Ireland. The known total of 104 individuals and at least another 20 reported missing represent more than a third of the entire surviving number of prehistoric metal horns in the world.
There can be no definite explanation as to why such a disproportionately high percentage of instruments should occur on a relatively remote island off North Western Europe. Perhaps many were preserved by the extensive blanket bogs in Ireland. Numbers may have been deliberately concealed from attackers or marauders. The survival of so many horns may indicate that many more instruments existed in their time. If bronze horns were made in great numbers they would undoubtedly have played a major role in the artistic and or spiritual practices of the people. Irish bronze horns occur in a variety of shapes and sizes yet there is a definite continuity that is present in the entire collection. There are two main location groupings.
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The North East of Ireland, including counties Fermanagh, Tyrone, Antrim, Armagh, Down and Louth.
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The South West quadrant including counties Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Offaly, Limerick and Clare.
Most of the surviving instruments are incomplete but a surprising number remain intact and in very good condition.
Crotal
The word crotal is Gaelic meaning rattle or bell.
A total of forty survive from the late Bronze Age. Thirty nine
were found as part of The Dowris Hoard near Birr in Co. Offaly and the remaining
single example is from Co. Antrim. 
The
largest are approximately the size and shape of an avocado. They are
hollow cast bronze and most have a stone or pebble inside which moves around
when the crotal is shaken in one hand or between two hands causing a rapid rattling
or high pitched singing. By employing deliberate ringing or shaking,
definite rhythm patterns can be played. It is also possible to hang a
number of crotals around the waist from a belt and they will ring when the person
dances up and down. The origin of the crotal is unknown. They
must have been important to the people of their time. The value of bronze
and the high level of casting and welding employed to make each one would cause
them to be very expensive. Yet all but one were found together in the
same location. It has been suggested that they, with the horns, were
used as part of a bovine cult and their distinctive shape represented the scrotum
of a bull. Yet a crotal clearly consists of a single entity while a scrotum
appears as two. More probably they were designed to fit snugly into a
hand so that the distinctive high tinkle could be played at an appropriate moment.
Prehistoric Music Ireland,
Crimlin, Corrnamona,
Co. Galway, Ireland
Phone: +353(0) 949 548 396
bronzeagehorns@eircom.net
©2005,PREHISTORIC MUSIC IRELAND